Penske’s Brad Keselowski took a hard-fought NASCAR Sprint Cup win at Talledega ahead of Kyle Busch in was an incident-packed finish around the famous speedway.

Keselowski led in the closing stayed and held his nerve despite a late spate of cautions, the first of which occurred with just over 20 laps left.

As the frontrunners ran close, Jimmy Johnson was turned around by Kurt Busch, who in turn spun into Paul Menard and triggered an incident involving more than a third of the field.

Once those without terminal damage were fixed up in the pitstops cycle, the drivers ran for another handful of laps before the next big wreck came during the closing stages.

Matt Kenseth was pitched skywards and flipped into the infield barrier after contact with Danica Patrick, who took a hard hit into the wall along with Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick.

Kenseth had enjoyed a solid run until then, having set the early pace from his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch.

The first caution of the day occurred when Dale Earnhardt Jr was spun across into teammate Kasey Kahne, after making adjustments to his car on pit road which made his car loose in the dirty air.

Earnhardt’s day went from bad to worse when he brought out the third caution of the day, after he was tipped into the barrier by Carl Edwards.

The crash put both of them out and ended Edwards’ run of Sprint race wins.

Keselowski was one of a number of drivers to make aggressive moves during the race and, having bided his time in the middle of the pack, got his reward when a run on Kyle Busch on the high part of the track allowed him to slot in ahead.

Polesitter Chase Elliott showed good pace towards the end but was rebuffed by Keselowski and fell back to fifth in the final four-lap sprint, handing the Penske driver a clear run to the chequered flag and allowing Busch to secure second as chaos ensued behind between Harvick, Martin Truex Jr and Ricky Stenhouse among others – with Stenhouse rolling into the barrier.

Keselowski takes victory in chaotic Talladega race