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Carl Edwards overcame a mid-race slip-up to salute in the Bojangles' Southern 500 in South Carolina on Sunday.
There was a track record 18 caution flags brought out at Darlington Raceway, Edwards holding the lead after the last was lifted with eight laps to go - as he held off pole-sitter Brad Keselowski and Denny Hamlin to greet the chequered flag.
The race was the penultimate of the regular NASCAR season, with only the Federated Auto Parts 400 to be played out before the Chase for the Sprint Cup begins with the myAFibRisk.com 400 on September 20.
At one point, Edwards fell from first to 30th in just 15 laps - but he finished the day with a celebratory backflip off his car.
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Edwards was able to win the race off pit road with a 12-second stop after Jeb Burton brought out a caution late.
"[The pit crew] won that race for us," Edwards said in victory lane.
"To come in third and come out winning the race. It's the Southern 500, one of the most sought after wins in all of motorsports."
As was the case at Kentucky in July, teams had to build their cars around a low downforce package, which lessens the amount of downforce on the cars by approximately 1,000 pounds.
NASCAR paired the low downforce package with a specially designed set of tyres which drivers quickly used up on the 1.366-mile asphalt track.
"This is what it's about - we're sliding cars, tyres are falling off - this is the style of racing that I love," Edwards said.
"If there is any chance that we can run this [package] in the Chase, I hope we can do it. Just an awesome day."
Teams were only allowed 12 sets of tyres, but the unique mould and compound changes in the tyres were unable to maintain speed on the longer runs resulting in a quick loss of track position, a lesson Edwards learned early in the race.
Keselowski led for the first 62 laps before pitting under caution, surrendering the lead to Edwards, who stayed on the track while the leaders came to pit road. With the lack of new tyres, Edwards dropped to the rear and fell two laps down.
Hamlin, who failed inspection four times before the race, finished third while Joey Logano came in fourth. Kevin Harvick earned a top-five finish - his 19th of the season.
Matt Kenseth, winner of the race in 2013, got loose and hit the wall hard in turn two just 21 laps into the race after making his way up to third. He was forced to make an unscheduled pit stop to repair right side damage. He got the free pass when Chase Elliott brought out the 12th caution of the night and moved up to finish 21st.
Keselowski's runner-up finish was his third top-10 in seven races at Darlington.
"A lot of yellows and a lot of back and forth there, and we just came up short right at the end, which was a bummer," the number two driver said.
"I just needed to be a little bit better everywhere to have a shot at the win."
With his seventh-place finish, Kyle Busch clinched a spot in the Chase, while Clint Bowyer owns the 16th and final spot, 29 points ahead of Aric Almirola.