Jamie McMurray's win Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway wasn't his first victory in a NASCAR Sprint Cup race.

It only seemed like it.

Lost in the mayhem and controversy that marred the end of the Amp Energy 500 -- as it seems to do in every race at Talladega -- was one of the feel-good stories of the year.

It wasn't McMurray's first career win, but it might have been his biggest.

It has been 86 races since McMurray last won a Cup race. Before then, he had gone 166 races without a win.

In both scenarios, McMurray seemed about ready to hit rock bottom, his career in a tailspin that was on the verge of costing him a lucrative ride and putting his future in jeopardy.

Yet just when it seems that McMurray is a has-been and an afterthought, he pulls off another stunning upset, reminding us that he does have the talent and mental makeup to win at this level.

Just when everyone seems to have given up on him, he flashes his vast potential, earning another opportunity in NASCAR's top series.

McMurray, 33, made a huge splash when he first entered the series in 2002, winning for Chip Ganassi Racing in just his second career start. Big things were expected. But McMurray drove the next three seasons for Ganassi, never winning again.

He scored 18 top-fives -- including four runner-up finishes -- and nearly made the championship field for what is now known as the Chase For The Sprint Cup in both 2004 and 2005, yet couldn't quite reach the pinnacle again.

That was all expected to change when he left Ganassi and joined powerful Roush Fenway Racing in 2006.

McMurray was expected to win quickly and become an instant championship contender. Instead, he flopped, plummeting to 25th in points his first season.