Busch posts first career road win, fifth of season

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SONOMA, Calif. -- Kyle Busch snapped the brief slump that's plagued him the past two weeks, racing to his first Sprint Cup Series win on a road course Sunday.

Busch, who had a poor qualifying run and started 30th at Infineon Raceway, steadily moved through the field and grabbed the lead away from defending race winner Juan Pablo Montoya on an early restart. Nobody came close to taking the lead from Busch the rest of the way, but he did have to hold off a pair of challenges on two late restarts.

It was Busch's series-best fifth win of the season, and 11th overall spanning all three of NASCAR's top series. It also was his second road course victory of the season, following a Nationwide Series win in Mexico City in April.

Busch celebrated with his traditional smoky burnout, then climbed from his car for his customary bow to the crowd. For once, the fans were cheering the driver they so famously love to hate.

David Gilliland finished a career-best second and was followed by Jeff Gordon, Clint Bowyer and Casey Mears. Montoya was sixth, followed by Ryan Newman, Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart.

The race was fairly clean until the closing laps.

David Reuitmann brought out a late caution when a flat tire caused him to run off course and into a wall of tires. That set up a restart with six laps to go, and Tony Stewart quickly passed Jamie McMurray for second. But a spin by Kevin Harvick as they entered Turn 4 started a chain-reaction crash that took Stewart out of contention for challenging his teammate for the win.

Harvick spun into McMurray, who spun into Stewart to bring out another caution.

It set up a final restart with three laps to go and Gilliland and Gordon lined up behind Busch. He pulled out to another insurmountable lead, but a wreck between Scott Pruett and Denny Hamlin brought out a red-flag so NASCAR could clean the track. The stoppage lasted 12 minutes, forcing Busch to sit idle and think about the impending three-lap sprint to the finish.

Busch once again moved out to a large lead, and the only real races for position were back in the pack. Montoya jockeyed for position with Mears and Elliott Sadler, while Kenseth, Edwards and Dale Earnhardt Jr. mounted their own battle.

Montoya moved through the field early and took the lead until Busch grabbed it from him. But Montoya was spun by Marcos Ambrose while running second, and the contact dropped the Colombian to 14th.

Ambrose was later spun by Sadler, and the contact came as Ambrose was shifting -- causing him to break his gearbox. Ambrose, who was running fifth in his Sprint Cup Series debut, wound up 42nd.