Last fall at Talladega Superspeedway, NASCAR told drivers how they could and couldn’t drive. The result was one of the most boring races in the history of the famed racetrack.

This spring, NASCAR said to drivers: “Have at it, boys.”

That, plus the switch from the hated wing to the more-traditional rear spoiler, made Sunday’s race in Talladega one to be remembered for years to come.

“From the competitive standpoint, I don’t know what else you can ask for,” Denny Hamlin said to reporters after the race. “Anybody can win this race. There’s no doubt about it. Any car can win this race and it’s just who’s going to put themselves in the position with 10 [laps] to go.”

The lead changed hands 88 times over the course of 188 laps in Sunday’s race, shattering the old record of 75, which was set at Talladega in 1984.

Also new this season was an amendment to the green-white-checker rule, which allows three attempts at the end of the race. Sunday marked the first time all three tries were used.

Kevin Harvick, who was running on fumes by the end of the race, took advantage of the extended race, and snapped a career worst 115-race winless streak — his last win was the 2007 Daytona 500 — by executing a by the book slingshot pass.

“We made a plan, and I’m telling you, every piece of it played out exactly how we wanted to play it,” Harvick said. “Coming into the last lap, that’s exactly how we planned it out on paper.”

Harvick passed Jamie McMurray on the final lap of the race, making competitors and fans look on in awe.

“I hate to show my age, but that was a tremendous pass just like the old days, like you would have seen Buddy Baker or Cale Yarborough,” Mark Martin said to The Associated Press. “That was a tremendous pass, and it was timed perfectly.”

Harvick’s win also marked the first win at Talladega for Richard Childress Racing since the late Dale Earnhardt won his final race there in October 2000.

Among all the late-race cautions that caused the green-white-checkered finishes, more trouble arose for Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson.

Late in the race, Gordon had a surge of speed, and right as he went to pass Johnson, Johnson moved down, blocking Gordon and breaking his momentum.

That caused Gordon to drop deep in the pack, and a half-lap later was caught in a big wreck, ruining his chance at the win.

“The 48 is testing my patience, I can tell you that,” Gordon said to The Associated Press. “It takes a lot to make me mad. I am pissed right now. I don’t know what it is with me and him right now.”

Johnson also was collected in a wreck a few laps later, and admitted fault for the Gordon incident in a phone interview with The Associated Press.

“I misjudged the closing rate,” Johnson said. “We all make mistakes, I am no different. Certainly, that was my fault. I made the mistake there.”

Johnson did hold onto his points lead despite his 31st place finish, just 26 points ahead of Harvick.