Dale Earnhardt Jr. punched his ticket into this year's Chase for the Sprint Cup championship with a victory in Sunday's Geico 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

Earnhardt, who led the most laps with 67, won a Sprint Cup Series race at Talladega for the sixth time, but it was his first victory here since October 2004. He is now tied with Jeff Gordon for second most wins at this 2.66-mile track. Earnhardt's late father, Dale Earnhardt, holds the record with 10 victories here.

Earnhardt Sr. was killed in an accident on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500. His last career victory in NASCAR's premier series occurred at Talladega in the fall of 2000. He would have turned 64 years old this past Wednesday.

Earnhardt Jr., who is NASCAR's most popular driver, turned 40 years old last October. He won a record four Cup races in a row at Talladega from 2001-03 before scoring his fifth victory here the following year.

Jimmie Johnson could not make a pass on his Hendrick Motorsports teammate for the lead. He crossed the finish line 0.158 seconds behind Earnhardt. Paul Menard finished third, while Ryan Blaney, running a partial schedule for The Wood Brothers in Sprint Cup this season, took the fourth spot. Martin Truex Jr. placed fifth, followed by Sam Hornish Jr., Ryan Newman, Kevin Harvick, the current points leader and defending Sprint Cup champion, Hamlin and Josh Wise.