Kurt's response: Dominant win at AMS for older Busch

HAMPTON, Ga. -- Chalk one up for the older brother.

Kurt Busch scored an emphatic victory Sunday in the Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, but he needed a pass in the final two laps to back up brother Kyle Busch's win last week in Las Vegas.

With his No. 2 Penske Dodge on four fresh tires, Busch rocketed past race leader Carl Edwards moments after a restart for a green-white-checkered finish that sent the race five laps beyond its posted distance of 325 laps (watch video).

Series points leader Jeff Gordon also passed Edwards on Lap 329 and finished second, trailing Busch to the finish line by .332 seconds. Gordon extended his lead in the standings to 43 points over Clint Bowyer, who ran sixth.

"Good things come to those who wait," said the race winner, after running a victory lap in reverse around the 1.54-mile speedway. "We waited over a year and a half with this [new race car] to find a good package, and we've had that to start off 2009."

This is the second year in a row the Busch brothers have won back-to-back races. Kyle won June 22 at Infineon and Kurt won the next week at New Hampshire (and then Kyle kept the Busch family in Victory Lane with wins in the next two races, at Daytona and Chicago).

"That's neat," Busch said of the back-to-back wins with Kyle, who also won the spring race in Atlanta in 2008. "I've got to hold my end of the bargain, because Kyle's on the gas right now. I've got to thank guys like Carl for racing me clean at the end, and Jeff Gordon was strong all day.

"When you beat those two kinds of guys here at Atlanta -- especially on a day when it reminded me of Darlington. ... This place will just chew you up and spit you out, and we had the handle."

Busch led six times for 234 laps, 70 more than he led the entire 2008 season. The victory was the 19th of his Cup career, tying him for 33rd on the all-time list with Fonty Flock, Davey Allison and Buddy Baker.

Edwards held on to third and gained five positions to fourth in points, 87 behind Gordon. Kevin Harvick and Brian Vickers ran fourth and fifth, respectively, despite falling off the lead lap when the third caution of the race trapped them during a cycle of green-flag pit stops.

Busch perfect

Kurt Busch scored a perfect Driver Rating of 150.0 at Atlanta, his fourth since the inception of the Loop Data statistic in 2005. He is the only Cup Series driver to post more than one perfect Driver Rating.

On Sunday, Busch had race-best stats in Laps Led (234), Average Running Position (1.5) and Fastest Laps Run (81). He also was one of two drivers who ran all 330 Laps in the Top 15 (Kasey Kahne).

Busch also scored perfect Driver Ratings in his Pocono wins in 2005 and 2007 and at Phoenix in 2005.

Perfect Driver Ratings

Date	Driver	Track
4/23/05	Ku. Busch	Phoenix
7/24/05	Ku. Busch	Pocono
8/14/05	T. Stewart	Watkins Glen
11/12/06	K. Harvick	Phoenix
8/5/07	Ku. Busch	Pocono
9/16/07	C. Bowyer	New Hampshire
8/31/08	J. Johnson	Fontana
3/8/09	Ku. Busch	Atlanta

Kasey Kahne and Tony Stewart, who also regained lost laps, finished seventh and eighth, respectively. Three-time defending Cup champion Jimmie Johnson came home ninth, and Martin Truex Jr. ran 10th, despite passing a kidney stone Saturday night in the emergency room of a local hospital.

Gordon had to overcome a clutch problem to nail down the runner-up finish.

"We were fast," Gordon said. "We keep having little issues that keep popping up that we have to overcome -- last week with the fender [at Las Vegas], this week with the clutch. And these guys [pit crew] are just flawless. They're just not skipping a beat.

"We're going to win races. We're getting close. That was a heck of a battle there for second -- had a lot of fun. We'll keep knocking on the door until we get into Victory Lane."

Jimmy Watts, gas man for the No. 47 Toyota of Marcos Ambrose, threw a monkey wrench into the race on Lap 67 when he chased a runaway tire into the grass of the quad-oval below the frontstretch grandstands (watch video). He was suspended for the remainder of the race.

NASCAR called a caution for safety reasons and interrupted a cycle of green-flag stops, trapping the majority of the field a lap down When Johnson restarted in the lead on Lap 74, Bowyer, Truex, Edwards and Busch were the only lead-lap cars lined up behind him. Nine others, including Gordon, Vickers, Denny Hamlin and Dale Earnhardt Jr. took the green ahead of Johnson on the tail end of the lead lap.

Earnhardt, who finished 11th, was lapped twice thereafter but used two free passes to return to the lead lap. Hamlin, Kahne, Harvick, Stewart, Harvick, Matt Kenseth and Jeff Burton also took advantage of one free pass each. He jumped five positions to 24th in points but is far from satisfied with his performance and that of his No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet team this season.

"We are doing about as miserable as we can do without being too upset about it," Earnhardt said. "You know, I mean, I would like to run better than that. We struggled all day -- we just can't struggle."

To Earnhardt, the off week in the Cup schedule falls at the right time. The series won't race again until March 22 at Bristol.

"This weekend off will be good for everybody," he said. "We are repairing some damage we did early in the season, the first couple of races with these finishes (27th at Daytona and 39th at Fontana), but ... running 11th and struggling all day doesn't really do much for your confidence."

Video
• Press Pass: Kurt Busch | Carl Edwards | Jeff Gordon