Kyle Busch wins at Phoenix

Busch, who became NASCAR's youngest ever Nextel Cup race winner at California earlier this season, got into the lead at the last round of pitstops and was able to withhold a strong challenge from Greg Biffle, who had dominated in the early stages.

Biffle passed Busch on lap 280 of the 312 lap race, but Busch repassed him five laps later and pulled away to take the chequered flag.

It was a dramatic comeback for the 20 year-old, who had pitted under green flag conditions midway through the race because he wrongly thought he had a tyre problem.

That put him a lap down on the field, but after receiving the lucky dog pass to put him back on the lead lap at a caution, he fought his way back to the front and got himself took the lead after his Hendrick Motorsport pit-crew got his number 5 car out in front on the final stop.

"Biffle was really fast," Busch said. "He raced me clean for the whole time and it was a great race. I'm was with Biffle when I was a lap down and I could see how he was racing and I called in and asked for the changes to make it better. I apologise the fans for not being able to do the donuts but NASCAR told me to come straight to Victory Lane."

Busch also said he stood behind his older brother Kurt, who has been dropped by Roush Racing for the final two races of the season after being charged by police for reckless driving.

"I'm behind my brother 100 per cent," Busch added. "Anything in the media is false and a true champion was taken out of his race car today."

Biffle, who gained the bonus points for leading the most laps, kept his championship hopes alive with second place having led the most laps thanks to his pace in the early stages. Jeff Gordon's third place allowed him to move into the lead of the battle for the million-dollar bonus for finishing 11th.

Tony Stewart finished ahead of his two main championship rivals in fourth, to extend his championship lead to 52 points going into next week's finale at Homestead.

"The car had a good balance," Stewart said. "But it was tough for my crew chief to make the decisions. We kept working with the car and we had to work on it as the temperature dropped throughout the afternoon."

Stewart's teammate Bobby Labonte finished fifth, ahead of Chase contender Carl Edwards.

Jimmie Johnson seemed to haemorrhage places and crucial championship points in the final laps as he struggled with his Chevrolet Monte Carlo, but he managed to repass Robby Gordon on the final tour, to leave Phoenix as the driver in the best position to challenge Stewart next weekend.

"We really needed to finish ahead of Stewart here," Johnson said. "The title is not over but it's going to be tough from here on in. It was so frustrating when we were going backwards and the car was tightening and we couldn't get it dialled in."

The Chase for the Championship is now to down to just four drivers - Stewart, Johnson, Edwards and Biffle - ahead of next weekend's championship finale at Homestead Motor Speedway in Florida. The other six Chase contenders have been mathematically eliminated from contention.

Biffle and Edwards need Johnson and Stewart to have seriously bad luck if they are to take the title, however, a stellar weekend for Johnson could mean he snatches the title if Stewart only has an average day.

But if Stewart finishes ninth or better next week, he will be crowned the 2005 NASCAR Nextel Cup Champion.

Pos  Driver                Make         Laps
 1.  Kyle Busch            Chevrolet    312
 2.  Greg Biffle           Ford         312  Chase
 3.  Jeff Gordon           Chevrolet    312
 4.  Tony Stewart          Chevrolet    312  Chase
 5.  Bobby Labonte         Chevrolet    312
 6.  Carl Edwards          Ford         312  Chase
 7.  Jimmie Johnson        Chevrolet    312  Chase
 8.  Robby Gordon          Chevrolet    312
 9.  Dale Jarrett          Ford         312
10.  Travis Kvapil         Dodge        312
11.  Elliott Sadler        Ford         312
12.  Ryan Newman           Dodge        312  Chase
13.  Denny Hamlin          Chevrolet    312
14.  Mark Martin           Ford         312  Chase
15.  Jeff Burton           Chevrolet    312
16.  Kenny Wallace         Ford         312
17.  Joe Nemechek          Chevrolet    312
18.  Jamie McMurray        Dodge        312
20.  Ricky Rudd            Ford         312
21.  Scott Wimmer          Dodge        312
22.  Casey Mears           Dodge        312
23.  Kevin Harvick         Chevrolet    312
24.  Jeremy Mayfield       Dodge        311  Chase
25.  Dave Blaney           Chevrolet    311
26.  Brian Vickers         Chevrolet    311
27.  Kasey Kahne           Dodge        311
28.  Jeff Green            Dodge        311
29.  Rusty Wallace         Dodge        310  Chase
30.  Ken Schrader          Dodge        310
31.  Mike Bliss            Chevrolet    310
32.  Matt Kenseth          Ford         310  Chase
33.  Michael Waltrip       Chevrolet    310
34.  Sterling Marlin       Dodge        310
35.  Bobby Hamilton Jr     Chevrolet    217
36.  Jimmy Spencer         Dodge        214
37.  Mike Skinner          Dodge        214
38.  Scott Riggs           Chevrolet    205
39.  Johnny Sauter         Dodge        149
40.  Dale Earnhardt Jr     Chevrolet    112
41.  Jerry Robertson       Chevrolet     51
42.  Stanton Barrett       Chevrolet     24
43.  Chad Chaffin          Chevrolet     14

Chase for the Cup - points standings:

Pos  Driver              Points    Change
 1.  Tony Stewart         6415        =
 2.  Jimmie Johnson       6363        =
 3.  Carl Edwards         6328        =
 4.  Greg Biffle          6313        =
 5.  Mark Martin          6253        =
 6.  Ryan Newman          6208       +1
 7.  Matt Kenseth         6187       -1
 9.  Rusty Wallace        6016       +1
 8.  Kurt Busch           5974       -1
10.  Jeremy Mayfield      5939        =