With Infineon Raceway win, Kyle Busch is back on top

SONOMA, Calif.

Kyle Busch fought with his car so much in practice Friday that he guessed which tire barrier he'd hit in Sunday's race at Infineon Raceway.

Before Sunday's California sunset, fans cheered Busch.

For winning. Not wrecking.

That's the type of upside-down weekend it was for the Sprint Cup points leader, who extended his advantage with his first career Cup road course win after starting a season-worst 30th in the Toyota/Save Mart 350.

The cheers for the sport's bad boy might have been most surprising. After all, Busch won a Nationwide road course event at Mexico City earlier this year.

So why the applause? Busch jokingly figured Dale Earnhardt Jr. fans have finally forgiven him for his contact with Earnhardt at Richmond - since Earnhardt won last weekend's race.

Not likely. But, hey, when you've having so much fun, everything seems good.

Busch ended a two-week winless drought - almost an eternity for him - to earn his series-best fifth win of the season and 11th this year in NASCAR's top three series. Busch has 50 bonus points heading into the Chase - 30 more than his nearest competitor.

Then again, Busch might not even need those points the way he has run. Along with this road course win, Busch's updated resume includes victories this season at Atlanta (1.5-mile oval), Talladega (restrictor-plate race), Darlington (1.3-mile banked track) and Dover (1-mile high-banked track).

Busch admitted that the road course win is special. He joined a group of winners that includes, among others, Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart.

"I'm not going to say I'm a road course ace," Busch said after his ninth career victory. "Hopefully we can do it again come Watkins Glen."

Perhaps as impressed with Busch's drive was Gordon, who finished third. Gordon said he was amazed by how Busch threw his car around the 1.99-mile track that snakes through the hills of wine country.

" Honestly, I was around him and I didn't think he was a very good road racer," Gordon said. "I'm kind of shocked. I was really bad one time and he went by me at the beginning and he wasn't much better than I was and he was out of control. I think that you've got to give that guy a lot of credit for his talent."

David Gilliland finished a career-best second, giving an underfunded Yates Racing team its first top-five finish of the year. Gordon, though not pleased with his struggles, again had a strong finish. Clint Bowyer placed fourth to snap a four-race streak when he finished no better than 25th. Casey Mears finished a season-

best fifth, but that's probably not enough to save his job with Hendrick Motorsports.

Others had less to be pleased with Sunday.

Kevin Harvick, running fourth, triggered a four-car crash seven laps from the finish when he went too hard into a right-hand turn and slid into Jamie McMurray. The contact knocked McMurray, running third, into second-place Tony Stewart, spinning both. Harvick finished 30th; McMurray fell to 18th and Stewart to 10th.

"Well, we got... taken out," Stewart radioed his crew. "Ain't a... thing I can do right this year."

It was the second time this year contact from Harvick had wrecked Stewart. Racing for second at Bristol in March, Harvick ran under Stewart and wiggled up the track, hitting Stewart. The contact sent Stewart into the wall.

Defending race winner Juan Pablo Montoya also had problems. Running second, he spun in the hairpin turn on lap 75 after he was clipped by Marcos Ambrose, who was making his series debut.

Ambrose ran under McMurray and nosed ahead when he clipped Montoya and spun him. Montoya fell to 15th, ending his chances to repeat.

"He just came across my nose and I couldn't get out of his way," said Ambrose, who later fell back when he broke a gear and then spun after contact with Elliott Sadler.

Said Montoya: "We just got tangled up with (Ambrose) and it cost us a few spots."

Busch had no such troubles.