“I looked like a fish out of water at first,” acknowledged Busch who, like many Sprint Cup drivers, grew up racing mainly on ovals. “I got pretty good, I guess, a little bit later on.”
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.”
“We unloaded here and we were absolutely junk,” Busch said. “It was a bad feeling, but these guys worked so hard. It’s just phenomenal that we’re able to be here in Victory Lane — never before on a road course, in the Cup Series, so this is definitely really, really special. We came a long ways with this thing.”
FIN ST CAR DRIVER MAKE
1 30 18 Kyle Busch Toyota
2 31 38 David Gilliland Ford
3 5 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet
4 19 7 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet
5 23 5 Casey Mears Chevrolet
6 21 42 Juan Montoya Dodge
7 9 12 Ryan Newman Dodge
8 33 17 Matt Kenseth Ford
9 12 99 Carl Edwards Ford
10 39 20 Tony Stewart Toyota
11 10 16 Greg Biffle Ford
12 15 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet
13 20 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet
14 26 83 Brian Vickers Toyota
15 2 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet
16 25 1 Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet
17 11 45 Terry Labonte Dodge
18 18 26 Jamie McMurray Ford
19 6 19 Elliott Sadler Dodge
20 16 22 Dave Blaney Toyota
21 34 0 Michael McDowell * Toyota
22 41 28 Travis Kvapil Ford
23 37 10 Patrick Carpentier * Dodge
24 38 6 David Ragan Ford
25 35 55 Michael Waltrip Toyota
26 24 78 Joe Nemechek Chevrolet
27 13 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota
28 40 8 Aric Almirola Chevrolet
29 22 1 Ron Fellows Chevrolet
30 32 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet
31 17 77 Sam Hornish Jr. * Dodge
32 3 2 Kurt Busch Dodge
33 1 9 Kasey Kahne Dodge
34 29 15 Paul Menard Chevrolet
35 28 66 Max Papis Chevrolet
36 8 7 Robby Gordon Dodge
38 27 41 Scott Pruett Dodge
39 4 43 Bobby Labonte Dodge
41 14 160 Boris Said Ford
43 43 34 Brian Simo Ford
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