Busch dominated the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at the 1.99-mile Infineon course for his series-high fifth win of the season and increased his lead in the championship standings.
Busch praised crew chief Steve Addington and the rest of his Joe Gibbs Racing team for adjustments that made his No. 18 Toyota Camry so strong, because the car was “junk” when it arrived in wine country last week.
“It means so much to me that these guys were able to do that,” said Busch, whose stellar season and cocky confidence have earned him nicknames such as “Wild Thing” and made him a driver many NASCAR fans love to hate.
“We changed everything from Friday and Saturday,” he said. “I thought it was just going to be a dismal weekend, and I was trying to figure out what tire barrier I was going to put it in.”
Busch, who started 30th, led 76 of the 112 laps at Infineon Raceway en route to his 10th career victory. He also extended his lead in the standings to 103 points over Jeff Burton, who finished 13th.
David Gilliland posted a career-best second-place finish and Jeff Gordon, who has five career wins at Sonoma, finished third.
Clint Bowyer placed fourth and Casey Mears rounded out the top five.
Busch was able to hold off and even pull away from Gilliland on a restart with four laps to go and a green-white-checkered restart.
The 23-year-old Busch used pit strategy and a little luck to first grab the lead. He pitted just before the first caution of the day and restarted in the third position.
After Stewart, Harvick and McMurray spun away their chances for victory, Busch led the field to a restart on Lap 108, but a wreck involving Stewart, Scott Pruett and Denny Hamlin deep in the field brought out the sixth caution of the race and sent the event to two laps of overtime.
“There was so much stuff on the racetrack,” said Gilliland, who posted the best finish of his Cup career. “It was super slick on the last lap, so as far as challenging for the lead—it was everything I could do to stay on the racetrack.”
“I am really impressed with Kyle,” said third-place finisher Jeff Gordon, his former teammate. “I’ve been around him, and I didn’t think he’s a really good road racer. So I think you’ve got to give that guy a lot of credit for his talent. To be able to get their car up front and maintain the position ... I would not have bet on that.
“Obviously, he’s maturing and learning and that’s what it’s going to take for him to maintain that points leadmaintain that points lead.”
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