Rain hands Kurt Busch Loudon victory

The 2004 Cup champion came away triumphant on a day when he never looked like a threat for victory until the end. He was not among the fastest all afternoon but had good fuel mileage, a good strategy and some luck on his side as well.

The Penske driver was hoping to stretch his fuel mileage as much as possible in the closing laps of the race after he pitted for the last time with 83 laps remaining, more than he would have probably been able to run under green flag conditions.

With 28 laps to go the crucial caution that boosted his race came out after Jamie McMurray crashed into the back of Dale Earnhardt Jr when the Hendrick driver was slowing down to pit under green for the last time while running tenth.

This allowed Busch to save fuel but also to take the lead when the front-runners pitted for the last time, led by Tony Stewart. Busch then led the race for a few laps before another caution came out for an incident involving Clint Bowyer and Sam Hornish Jr.

But only a few laps later and while the field was running under the yellow flags, the rain arrived and forced officials to stop the race 17 laps from the scheduled distance. Ten minutes later NASCAR decided to call it a day, giving Busch his first victory for the past thirty races.

"Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good," Busch said after celebrating in an improvised victory lane inside a garage. "Sometimes you just don't win them the right way, I think we can honestly say that, but we had a lot of work and a lot of effort put in today and we'll take it."

The results of the race had nothing to do with who were the fastest cars of the day, with strategy and luck changing the composition of the race dramatically at the last minute. Had the race been run to the scheduled distance, some of the top finishers would've struggled either for grip or fuel.

Runner-up Michael Waltrip scored his best result since he finished second at Phoenix in 2005 driving for DEI. Equally surprising, and also capitalising on a strategy gamble, was JJ Yeley finishing third and scoring only the second top five of his career, the first since he joined Hall of Fame Racing.

Similarly Martin Truex Jr and Elliot Sadler ended up completing the top five ahead of Ganassi's Reed Sorenson.

Casey Mears led 53 laps after staying out on an early caution caused by a spinning Dario Franchitti. He was running the same strategy as the race winner but probably ran in fuel saving mode early and was not able to take any benefit out of what was effectively the winning strategy, finishing instead in seventh place, although best among the Hendrick drivers.

Denny Hamlin was eighth but the best finisher among the leading group of cars that pitted on the penultimate caution. Jimmie Johnson, who was running second before his last stop, crossed the finish line in ninth place ahead of Bobby Labonte, who scored his best result of the season.

The biggest loser of the day though was Stewart, who had to take a 13th place finish on the chin after leading a race-high 132 laps. He pitted from the lead on the penultimate caution of the day but changed two tyres while his main rivals went for fuel only, losing five places on that last stop.

The race ended with some controversy as Kyle Busch and Juan Pablo Montoya made contact during the last caution and ended up spinning each other off. The points leader had a difficult day and although he was on the same strategy as his brother initially, he ended up changing plans and finishing 24th.

Montoya was penalised two laps for the incident with Busch and was classified 32nd. Despite the collision, Busch retains the lead in the championship, although he is now only 67 points ahead of Jeff Burton.

Pos  Driver              Car        Laps
 1.  Kurt Busch          Dodge      284
 2.  Michael Waltrip     Toyota     284
 3.  JJ Yeley            Toyota     284
 4.  Martin Truex Jr     Chevrolet  284
 5.  Elliott Sadler      Dodge      284
 6.  Reed Sorenson       Dodge      284
 7.  Casey Mears         Chevrolet  284
 8.  Denny Hamlin        Toyota     284
 9.  Jimmie Johnson      Chevrolet  284
10.  Bobby Labonte       Dodge      284
11.  Jeff Gordon         Chevrolet  284
12.  Jeff Burton         Chevrolet  284
13.  Tony Stewart        Toyota     284
14.  Kevin Harvick       Chevrolet  284
15.  Ryan Newman         Dodge      284
16.  Brian Vickers       Toyota     284
17.  Carl Edwards        Ford       284
18.  Matt Kenseth        Ford       284
19.  David Reutimann     Toyota     284
20.  Joe Nemechek        Chevrolet  284
21.  Greg Biffle         Ford       284
22.  Aric Almirola       Chevrolet  284
23.  Dale Earnhardt Jr   Chevrolet  284
24.  Kyle Busch          Toyota     284
25.  Juan Montoya        Dodge      284
26.  Clint Bowyer        Chevrolet  284
27.  Robby Gordon        Dodge      284
28.  Regan Smith         Chevrolet  284
29.  David Gilliland     Ford       284
30.  Paul Menard         Chevrolet  282
31.  Kasey Kahne         Dodge      282
32.  Patrick Carpentier  Dodge      282
33.  Dave Blaney         Toyota     281
34.  Scott Riggs         Chevrolet  281
35.  Terry Labonte       Dodge      281
36.  Travis Kvapil       Ford       281
37.  Johnny Sauter       Chevrolet  280
38.  Dario Franchitti    Dodge      280
39.  Sam Hornish Jr      Dodge      280
40.  David Ragan         Ford       272
41.  Jamie McMurray      Ford       271
42.  Michael McDowell    Toyota     209
43.  AJ Allmendinger     Toyota     202