Kurt Busch dominates at Sears Point

June 27th, 2011

Kurt Busch claimed his first victory of the NASCAR Sprint Cup season with a categorical showing at Sears Point.

The Penske racer had shown throughout practice that he had the car to beat, losing pole position in qualifying only after making two costly mistakes on his flying lap.

On Sunday though, from 11th on the grid, not only he did confirm his speed but his team also perfectly executed a two-stop strategy that gave him a clean track ahead to make the most of his pace, while other top contenders tried to charge back after a additional stops for fuel and tyres.

Busch claimed the lead for the first time on lap 13 by overtaking early race leader Denny Hamlin, who had taken over at the front from the polesitter, his Joe Gibbs Racing team-mate Joey Logano.

Busch stretched his first stint as long as lap 31 while many had pitted early in anticipation of two further stops at least, and although Busch’s pace on old rubber was not comparable to those who bolted four new Goodyears before lap 20, he was able to stay on target with the planned strategy.

A caution on lap 33, caused by an out-of-fuel Casey Mears, allowed Busch to move up in the order again as most of the leaders pitted for a second time. Hamlin was the only one to stay out but he pitted a few laps later when another caution waved as the laps behind the pace car allowed Busch to continue to stretch his fuel mileage enough to where a two-stopper came within range.

When the fifth and final caution came out with 22 laps to go after Red Bull’s Brian Vickers punted Stewart Haas’ Tony Stewart against the wall at the final hairpin in retaliation for previous contact, a number of cars decided to pit for fuel and tyres despite many having already stopped a few laps earlier under green.

Busch pitted for the last time with 38 laps remaining, so during the final caution he stayed out and regained the lead for good, being free to dictate the pace while trying to conserve his tyres and even some fuel for an eventual green-white-chequered finished.

Those on fresher rubber struggled to make enough progress as a lack of further cautions hampered their cause, allowing the 2004 Cup champion to be in full control and take the second win of the season for his outfit, his first ever on a road course at Cup level.

“It was an unbelievable set-up,” said Busch. “Once we got into the groove with this car, it seemed to get better after lap five or six. Our cars have never done that before… I’m so proud of these guys for really stepping up after what we’ve been through. Man, we’ve been on a high these last few weeks.

“We just had to conserve our rear tyres. That was the main thought. Once we had enough fuel to make it, I started to pick up my pace. I didn’t want guys to think they had a shot at us and I was able to stretch it out.”

Five-time Sears Point winner Jeff Gordon made the most progress in the closing stages, even passing points leader Carl Edwards for second on the final lap of the race. He was also among those on a four-stop strategy but chose to stay out on the final caution, admitting he was surprised at being able to finish strongly after battling with his car’s balance early on.

“I thought really, even there at the end, that we were probably going to get beat up by some of the guys on newer tyres,” said Gordon. “But the car just really stayed good there and we were able to even beat a lot of the guys in front of us and run them down. So that was a lot of fun. I was just so thankful the car finally came together there at the end.”

Behind Edwards, who ran a three-stop strategy, Richard Childress Racing’s Clint Bowyer and Australian Marcos Ambrose – who also struggled early on with handling – rounded out the top five. Logano did not make much of his pole position spot at first but still through strategy and pace was able to charge to a sixth-place finish ahead of last year’s race winner Jimmie Johnson.

Earnhardt Ganassi’s Juan Pablo Montoya looked strong in the final stint after taking tyres and fuel under the last caution and seemed to be able to make the most of fresher rubber, quickly picking off rivals. However he was delayed by contact with Kasey Kahne at Turn 2 and then Penske’s Brad Keselowski spun him out while fighting for position at Turn 3 with six laps remaining.

Kurt Busch’s win has vaulted him up three places in the standings to fourth, while Hendrick Motorsports’ Dale Earnhardt Jr dropped the same amount of positions after retiring with engine issues following damage from a multi-car incident.

Results – 110 laps:

Pos  Driver              Team/Car                         Time/Gap

 1.  Kurt Busch          Penske Dodge                 2h54m10.000s

 2.  Jeff Gordon         Hendrick Chevrolet               + 2.685s

 3.  Carl Edwards        Roush Fenway Ford                + 3.851s

 4.  Clint Bowyer        Childress Chevrolet             + 10.188s

 5.  Marcos Ambrose      Petty Ford                      + 11.462s

 6.  Joey Logano         Gibbs Toyota                    + 11.901s

 7.  Jimmie Johnson      Hendrick Chevrolet              + 12.744s

 8.  Martin Truex Jr     Waltrip Toyota                  + 14.826s

 9.  Kevin Harvick       Childress Chevrolet             + 19.994s

10.  Brad Keselowski     Penske Dodge                    + 20.748s

11.  Kyle Busch          Gibbs Toyota                    + 21.751s

12.  David Gilliland     Front Row Ford                  + 24.449s

13.  AJ Allmendinger     Petty Ford                      + 24.863s

14.  Matt Kenseth        Roush Fenway Ford               + 30.580s

15.  Jamie McMurray      Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet     + 32.003s

16.  Regan Smith         Furniture Row Chevrolet         + 32.511s

17.  Paul Menard         Childress Chevrolet             + 33.286s

18.  Robby Gordon        Gordon Dodge                    + 34.662s

19.  Mark Martin         Hendrick Chevrolet              + 35.042s

20.  Kasey Kahne         Red Bull Toyota                 + 35.969s

21.  Jeff Burton         Childress Chevrolet             + 37.962s

22.  Juan Pablo Montoya  Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet     + 40.640s

23.  Greg Biffle         Roush Fenway Ford               + 42.686s

24.  David Reutimann     Waltrip Toyota                  + 46.806s

25.  Ryan Newman         Stewart Haas Chevrolet          + 47.082s

26.  Andy Pilgrim        Whitney Chevrolet               + 47.887s

27.  Chris Cook          Front Row Ford                  + 48.192s

28.  Boris Said          Phoenix Chevrolet               + 49.637s

29.  David Ragan         Roush Fenway Ford               + 51.915s

30.  Michael McDowell    HP Toyota                       + 52.518s

31.  Dave Blaney         Baldwin Chevrolet               + 54.194s

32.  Terry Labonte       FAS Lane Ford                   + 55.053s

33.  Brian Simo          Whitney Chevrolet                 + 1 lap

34.  Casey Mears         Germain Toyota                   + 2 laps

35.  Andy Lally          TRG Chevrolet                    + 6 laps

36.  Brian Vickers       Red Bull Toyota                  + 7 laps

37.  Denny Hamlin        Gibbs Toyota                    + 11 laps

38.  Bobby Labonte       JTG Daugherty Toyota            + 19 laps
Retirements:
     Tony Stewart        Stewart Haas Chevrolet            88 laps

     Joe Nemechek        NEMCO Toyota                      66 laps

     Dale Earnhardt Jr   Hendrick Chevrolet                45 laps

     Mike Skinner        Germain Toyota                    10 laps

     PJ Jones            Gordon Dodge                       5 laps