TALLADEGA, Ala. – Mike McLaughlin won for the first time in three years and 75 races, leaving several angry drivers in his wake after Saturday's Subway 300 Busch Series race.

McLaughlin, whose last victory came in Concord, N.C., in October 1998, took the lead on lap 104 and led to the end of the 113-lap event at Talladega Superspeedway. He fought ferociously to hold off Jimmy Spencer, Mike Skinner and Spencer again at the end.

Several times one or the other of the two challengers pulled alongside McLaughlin's Pontiac, or even nosed ahead. Each time, though, the driver who earned the nickname "Magic Shoes" on the short tracks of the Northeast was able to power back to the lead.

"I went to protect my line on the bottom of the racetrack," said McLaughlin, who now has six career victories. "I just did what I had to do."

He averaged 131.258 mph, beating Spencer to the finish line by 0.125-seconds -- about two car-lengths.

The Busch cars run with carburetor restrictor plates at Talladega, just like the Winston Cup cars, so the field remained tightly packed and competitive. The race was marred by a series of accidents, including a 13-car melee on lap 87 in turn 4 on the 2.66-mile, high-banked oval.

McLaughlin escaped trouble, but gave his competition plenty to think about with his blocking tactics.

Spencer, a regular in the Winston Cup series and only an occasional Busch driver, was hot after emerging from his Pontiac, refusing to congratulate the winner.

"I know you can't race in the grass and he put me down there twice if I didn't lift," Spencer said. "Then he almost put me in the wall on the outside. I know he won the race, but I didn't forget it.

"That was the sloppiest, dirtiest thing I've ever seen. I won't congratulate him for the win because of the way he drove."

Spencer's comments didn't bother McLaughlin.

"Jimmy said it was dirty racing? That's the pot calling the kettle black," McLaughlin said. "I had to try to block any run. People do it all day long. I'd have been a fool not to do that. He was never clear of me to get in front.

"He run me hard and I thought it was a good race."

Jeff Green, the defending Busch Series champion, got past Todd Bodine and Skinner near the end to finish third. Green was as mad at Spencer as Spencer was at McLaughlin.

"I don't know what he thinks he was trying to do out there, racing in the grass to pass people and making some of those crazy moves," Green said. "You ain't supposed to do that.

"Jimmy thinks everybody's scared of him, and I'm not. But I'm not going to tear my car up. I'm running for a championship and he just races with us once in a while."

Spencer shrugged off Green's comments.

"I was doing the best I could do to win the race," he said. "I don't even have a tire mark."