Busch wins his 1st road course

Associated Press

SONOMA, Calif.

It certainly seemed as if Kurt Busch’s season was in serious trouble just two months ago, when poor performances led to an intense radio tirade against his entire Penske Racing organization.

What could have destroyed his race team has actually had the opposite effect.

Busch’s impressive turnaround continued Sunday with a dominating run at Infineon Raceway, where he earned his first career road course victory and his first win of the season.

“We’ve been on a great run these last few weeks,” Busch said. “To get a road course win, it’s a big check mark on my list. It’s just really neat to bring home that ’W.’ ”

Busch led a race-high 76 laps and beat Jeff Gordon by almost 4 seconds for his first win of the season. It’s a marked turn for Busch, who unraveled over his team radio at Richmond in early May because of how poorly his Dodge had been running.

The rant led to behind-the-scenes changes at Penske Racing that have sparked both Busch and teammate Brad Keselowski, who won at Kansas earlier this month. Busch, despite three consecutive poles, was winless but inching closer and closer.

It finally came on a road course, of all places. Busch was winless in 10 career starts at both Sonoma and Watkins Glen, the only two road courses on the Sprint Cup circuit. And Busch helped Keselowski finish 10th with advice and a tour of the track on Friday.

“It’s a good feeling to know that the two teams are working as closely together as they ever have,” Busch said. “Knowing that Brad is definitely maturing, seeing him bust off a top 10 at a road course is great. We went around the race track, I pointed out some of the apex points, exit points, shifting points. He absorbed it like a sponge.

“That’s what it takes as a veteran of the team to help the kid that’s coming up through and to have his information help us. That’s exactly what’s helped both teams get stronger.”

Beating Gordon made it extra special for Busch, who was one of many drivers wrecked by Gordon here last year. It was fresh in his memory when he arrived, and one of the first things Busch said was Gordon had apologized to every driver he wrecked last year but Busch.

“It was a definite boost at the end of the day, to see him finish second,” Busch smiled.

Gordon congratulated Busch in Victory Lane, but said “I still didn’t apologize.”

Carl Edwards, who decided Friday to skip Saturday’s Nationwide Series race at Road America, finished third. He was scheduled to miss both of Saturday’s practice sessions so he could be in Wisconsin for the race.

“It was very tough to watch the race from Road America, but I think staying was the right decision,” Edwards said. “It worked out. It was a good call.”