Talladega, AL -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. captured the EA Sports 500, the third of 10 races to determine the Nextel Cup champion, at the Talladega Superspeedway. The No.8 Budweiser Chevrolet crossed the finish line 0.083 seconds ahead of Kevin Harvick and took the lead in the championship.

The victory was Junior's fifth of the season, fifth at Talladega and 13th of his Cup career.

Earnhardt Jr. led a race-high 78 laps, but the key to the race came on the final round of pit stops. He was leading the race, with DEI teammate Michael Waltrip just behind when the call came to make the final stop for fuel on lap 177. As the teammates headed for pit road, Sterling Marlin got spun around and collected Bobby Labonte in a crash.

Earnhardt Jr.'s crew made a last-minute strategy change and put on two right- side tires in addition to the fuel. Although the decision left him in 14th place as he came off pit road, he had new tires while most of the leaders, including teammate Waltrip, were stuck on their old rubber.

The race finally restarted on lap 183 of 188 and Earnhardt Jr. shot towards the front. By lap 186 he passed Kevin Harvick for the lead. The final lap was a wild one with two wrecks involving Kasey Kahne, Greg Biffle and Elliott Sadler, but it didn't change the results at the top. It was Earnhardt Jr. for the fifth time in his career at Talladega. Only his father (Dale Earnhardt - 10) has more wins on the 2.66-mile superspeedway than the driver of the No.8 Chevrolet

"It just drove around the corner so much better than those guys with the older tires on," said Earnhardt Jr. "I went up top and took every run I had until there was nobody left to pass. I drove it as hard as I could drive it. I am glad to get back on top at Talladega. This is my place!"

Dale Jarrett, Brendan Gaughan and Kurt Busch completed the top-five.

"Junior" holds a 13-point edge over Busch (5,543-5,530). Jeff Gordon (5,482) fell to third with a 19th-place result. No other driver is within 100 points of Earnhardt Jr. Mark Martin is in fourth place 111 points back of the leader.

The biggest casualties in the race were Jimmie Johnson, who had engine overheating problems and Jeremy Mayfield who was involved in the first major accident of the day on lap 142. They finished 37th and 38th, respectively.

"All we can do is race hard, we can't control everything," said Johnson.

The next race in the championship is set for Sunday, October 10th at the Kansas Speedway.