NASCAR Busch pulls to top of Nextel Cup with Sylvania 300 win

He jumped from seventh to a tie with Dale Earnhardt Jr.
LOUDON, N.H. (AP) -- Kurt Busch had a not-so-secret weapon ready for the NASCAR Nextel Cup race at New Hampshire International Speedway.
While others struggled to figure out their setups Sunday after rain washed away qualifying Friday and practice Saturday, Busch simply jumped into the No. 97 Roush Racing Ford that he won in at the track in July and ran off with another win.
"We pulled the car out from underneath the car cover and ran it," Busch said, grinning broadly after leading 155 of 300 laps on the 1.058-mile oval. "Limited track time definitely helped us today.
"One thing we did change was our gear because of the cooler temperatures and, of course, what we ran here in the July race was a little bit more conservative. This time around you've got to lay out all your different secrets to go fast, but we didn't have many to throw at this car because it was so good in July."
First of showdown races
The performance in the Sylvania 300 could not have come at a better time, with Busch jumping from seventh to a tie for the series lead with Dale Earnhardt Jr. after the first race of NASCAR's new 10-man, 10-race championship showdown.
"Well, No. 1 is in the books, but there's still an awful lot of work to do," said Busch, who won his third race of the season and the 11th of his career.
He's tied for the top spot, only the third time in Busch's four-year Cup career that he has been on top of the points. He led for one race after finishing second at Rockingham in February 2003 and again for one race after finishing sixth at Texas in April.
Matt Kenseth, the 2003 series champion, was second, crossing the finish line 2.488 seconds -- about 20 car lengths -- behind his Roush Racing teammate.
"I knew we probably weren't going to catch him," Kenseth said. "Kurt had a great car and was getting through the center of the corner really fast. I tried to keep up with him as long as I could."
With the lineup set by owner points because of the qualifying rainout, all the drivers in the championship battle started up front, and seven finished among the top 13.
Earnhardt ran strong and finished third.
"My car was pretty good all day," said Earnhardt, who started the day in third. "We guessed right on the setup. We didn't have a good enough car for a top-five finish, so I'm pretty happy about that."
Others in top 10
He was followed by rookie Kasey Kahne, Jamie McMurray, Joe Nemechek, Jeff Gordon, Elliott Sadler, Michael Waltrip, Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Sterling Marlin and Mark Martin.
Gordon, who began the day with a five-point lead over teammate Johnson, is now third, nine points behind the leaders and one point ahead of Kenseth. Johnson fell to fifth, 30 points back.
Three of the contenders ran into big trouble Sunday.
The action got started early when Greg Biffle spun Robby Gordon into the wall, bringing out the first caution of the day on lap 17.
On lap 64, Robby Gordon ignited a multicar crash, drawing a two-lap penalty from NASCAR after hitting Biffle from behind. Tony Stewart tried to go around Biffle and Jeremy Mayfield, and all of them wound up damaged.
Mayfield and Stewart got the worst of it. Both had to spend considerable time in the garage for repairs and wound up dropping out of the race early, with Stewart finishing 39th and Mayfield 35th.