NASCAR at Talladega 2015 Results: Winner, Standings, Highlights and Reaction

Joey Logano had automatically qualified for NASCAR's Chase for the Sprint Cup Eliminator Round before Sunday's CampingWorld.com 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. Logano didn't mind getting greedy to sweep the entire Contender Round en route to yet another victory amid a wild, caution-filled finish.  

NASCAR officials had a tough call to make with so much at stake, having to determine where drivers were positioned when the green-white-checkered restart was halted by a yellow flag.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. was next to Logano on the last restart, but when the caution came out, it was determined Logano was still ahead. That eliminated "Junior" from the Chase.

Here is a look at the top finishers from the CampingWorld.com 500:

Place	Driver	Seconds off Lead
1	Joey Logano	—
2	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	0.083
3	Jeff Gordon	0.096
4	Brad Keselowski	0.174
5	Carl Edwards	0.231
6	Paul Menard	0.276
7	Martin Truex Jr.	0.426
8	Clint Bowyer	0.440
9	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	0.582
10	Kurt Busch	0.696
11	Kyle Busch	0.810

NASCAR's official Twitter account showed who will move forward to the Eliminator Round:

Greg Biffle tried to stretch his fuel to the limit by not pitting and was holding on until Jamie McMurray's car began to smoke, which brought out a caution flag with five laps remaining:

That set the stage for the green-white-checkered finish. Just before the restart commenced, Biffle conceded defeat by pitting and mitigated the risk of a pileup in the event he ran out of fuel.

Jimmie Johnson's No. 48 spun out even before the green occurred, so the lone attempt at a green-white-checkered hadn't actually happened yet:

Logano was furious since he would've won, saying over the radio, per the Associated Press' Jenna Fryer, "You gotta be kidding me. That was an attempt! Junior rules, that's what those are...That's the game we play. It's sort of one attempt, if we decide we want it to be."

Ryan McGee of ESPN The Magazine reacted to the controversial situation:

Defending Chase champion Kevin Harvick was having car troubles and essentially couldn't keep up with the pace when the green flag went down. Harvick was the catalyst for the race-ending accident, according to EPSN's Bob Pockrass:

Denny Hamlin was among those to accuse Harvick of intentionally causing the wreck:

Harvick is now seventh in the Chase grid, while Kyle Busch clinched the last spot with an 11th-place finish, according to the projected, unofficial results. There were other, more positive storylines to emerge from Sunday's race amid the mess of a conclusion, as NASCAR tried to determine who'd move forward in the Chase.

Amid his final year in an exceptional career, Jeff Gordon was on the pole and has remained a factor in the Chase despite the absence of a win in 2015. The veteran and longtime operator of the No. 24 for Hendrick Motorsports needed a top-four finish to advance, and he did just that.

Disaster nearly struck for Gordon's teammate, Earnhardt, who was assessed a penalty on Lap 121, as his pit crew came over the wall too soon. Earnhardt had been running well, led 42 laps prior to the infraction and fell all the way to 27th.

"Don't panic; things will work out," said Earnhardt to his team over the radio amid the adversity, per NASCAR.com. "Shake it off. You've been doing great all day."

How prescient that reassurance turned out to be. Although Earnhardt fell one place short, he managed to surge to the front with 38 laps remaining. NASCAR Stats passed along a relevant anecdote as Earnhardt made his late charge:

Gordon continued to hang tough throughout and needed a top-four finish to secure a spot in the final eight. He did just that and helped Junior—who was in a must-win situation—as USA Today's Jeff Gluck observed:

But Gordon wound up falling back and giving ground to Logano, as the winner of the past two races moved into second and denied Earnhardt of progressing in the Chase.

ESPN Stats & Info highlighted the consistency Logano has enjoyed over the past two seasons once he'd edged out Earnhardt:

After the final pit stops, Earnhardt regressed to 11th with 14 laps left and had a ton of ground to make up to get back to the lead. It simply wasn't meant to be, as the prior pit penalty ultimately was too much to overcome.

At least Earnhardt could take solace in how well he drove Sunday:

There were only four caution flags all afternoon at Talladega, which created a rare fluidity to the race but also tested the drivers' mental fortitude, especially as the Chase was cutting four drivers from contention.

Next Sunday's action begins the Eliminator Round in the Goody's Headache Relief Shot 500 at Martinsville Speedway. Hendrick Motorsports has owned the race the past three years, as Jimmie Johnson, Gordon and Earnhardt have won respectively.

Junior ought to be out for vengeance after falling just short of the Eliminator Round. Johnson's surprising early exit from the Chase may pave the way for an epic swan song for Gordon, who's well overdue for a trip to Victory Lane.

Note: Stats courtesy of NASCAR.com unless otherwise indicated.