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Kyle Busch ended a brief slump by winning at the Infineon Raceway in dominating fasion, leading 77 of 112 laps. He won from the 30th starting position, only the second driver to win from farther than 13th at Infineon in Nascar history. After Friday's practice and qualifying, Busch wasn't hopeful o####ood finish, but he credited his crew with making the car as dominant as it was.

"These guys worked so hard," said Busch. "This is really special. We came a long ways with this thing. That's what makes me so proud of this team."

All day long Busch's competitors fell from contention one after the other, most notably after restarts. Among the drivers who were spun from contention were Greg Biffle, Juan Pablo Montoya, Marcos Ambrose, Kurt Busch and Robby Gordon, whose chances of winning were lost in four separate incidents.

However on penultimate restart, four top-10 cars, including second through fourth, were all taken out in one incident in turn 7 when Kevin Harvick got loose heading into the corner and made contact with Jamie MacMurray, who then spun into Busch's teammate Tony Stewart, who was running second.

Ron Fellows, who was running 6th, also became involved when he tried to avoid the incident and went into the sand, getting stuck and relegating him to a 29th place finish.

A frustrated Stewart simply said after the incident, "I haven't seen it, so it's not fair to comment on that."

Stewart would recover to finish 10th, gaining nine positions on the final restart while McMurray would muster an 18th place finish, but Kevin Harvick suffered the most as he finished 30th, and at the end of the day he had fallen three positions in the points standings to 13th, outside the field of drivers eligible for the Chase.

That incident set up one final restart, with Busch running away from the field in the final two laps to win easily. He's won on just about every type of track this year, winning at the 1.5 mile Atlanta, the sweeping banks of the Talladega Superspeedway, taming the Lady in Black and at Dover, and now at the road course in Sonoma, his first finish better than 7th on a road course.

Behind Busch was David Gilliland in 2nd, the best finish of his career, and road-course ace Jeff Gordon, who was impressed by Busch's performance.

"I am really impressed with Kyle," Gordon said. "I've been around him, and I didn't think he's a really good road racer. So I think you've got to give that guy a lot of credit for his talent."

Kasey Kahne earned the pole on Friday, indicating that he would be able to continue his hot streak that has seen him earn three top-2 finishes in four races. However, after leading the first four laps was never a factor, as he finished 33rd.

Marcos Ambrose's day didn't end any better than Kahne's, though Ambrose had run up front all race in his first Sprint Cup start before being spun by Elliott Sadler, leaving him with a disappointing 42nd place finish.

After several weeks of racing on the ovals the Sprint Cup Series is presented with a unique challenge this weekend in the form of the Infineon Raceway. Just under two miles in length the course challenges a driver's ability to out-brake and out-shift their opponents, along with the challenging left and right handed corners they will negotiate through 110 times.

1. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Maybe you haven't heard, but Earnhardt snapped a 76-race winless streak this past weekend at Michigan, making the trip to victory lane in a points race for the first time since his win at Richmond in 2006. Earnhardt has had solid cars in almost every race this season, look for him to earn his first top-10 finish at Infineon this weekend, maybe even another win.

2. Carl Edwards

Edwards had a solid car all day long at Michigan, spending 21 laps in the lead before settling for a 7th place finish, his sixth straight top-10 finish. Edwards isn't known for performing well on the road courses, but he has earned a top-10 at Infineon in 2006, along with a good run at Watkins Glen last year.

3. Kyle Busch

Busch led early from the pole, but after that wasn't much of a threat for the win, as he eventually settled for a mediocre 13th place finish. Look for him to do better at Infineon, where he's improved in every race since his first start, finishing 40th in 2005, 11th in 2006 and 8th last year.

4. Matt Kenseth

Kenseth was a contender all day long, but had to settle for a 3rd place finish behind Earnhardt and Kasey Kahne, who used fuel strategy to get in front of him. Kenseth's team is back on track, but Infineon isn't a course he specializes in by far, in eight career starts he has no top-10's, and an average finish of 23.5.

5. Jeff Burton

Burton was a little off at Michigan, where he had to settle for a 15th place finish, snapping a streak of four consecutive top-10's. However Burton has done well at Infineon lately, with three top-10's in the past four races there, including his first career top-5 at the track last year when he finished 3rd.

6. Greg Biffle

Biffle has good cars week in and week out, but there's always something that happens to ruin his day. The most recent let-down for the BIff was when he ran over the air hose on the final round of pit stops, forcing him to serve a drive-through penalty under green. Biffle would have to settle for a 20th place finish after having a car capable of a top-5. Biffle isn't known for being a good road-racer, but he has placed in the top-5 in the past two races at Infineon.

7. Kasey Kahne

Kahne nearly won his third race in the past four weeks at Michigan, but a caution saved the leader Earnhardt from running out of gas before the finish. It was still a good weekend for Kahne, who earned his eighth top-10 of the season. However, Kahne hasn't placed better than 23rd in his four career starts at Infineon.

8. Jimmie Johnson

After his blown engine in the Coca-Cola 600, Johnson has reeled off three straight finishes of 7th or better, including his 6th place finish at Michigan, which has allowed him to climb to 5th in the point standings. In his career Johnson has been hit or miss at Infineon, where in six starts he has two top-10's, but an average finish of 20th.

9. Brian Vickers

Vickers has had cars capable of winning for the past several weeks, and he was again a contender at Michigan, finishing 4th. Last year he earned his best career finish at Infineon, a 14th, in sub-par equipment. Look for him to improve on that this weekend.

10. Jeff Gordon

If it weren't for his road-racing prowess he wouldn't have made the top-10, but Gordon is the road-course king. After a miserable day at Michigan where he finished 18th, Gordon goes to a track where he's earned five wins in 15 starts, including 11 finishes of 7th or better.



Other Notables:

11. Tony Stewart- Stewart ended his slump with a 5th place finish at Michigan, and he's no slouch on the road courses. At Infineon he's earned two wins in nine starts, and an average finish of 10th.

12. Boris Said- Said is always solid on the road courses, especially Infineon, where he's earned four top-10's in the past five races.

13. Scott Pruett- Pruett is an excellent road racer, though he hasn't faired as well at Infineon as he has at Watkins Glen. He did earn a 3rd place finish here in 2004.

14. Robby Gordon- Gordon swept the road course races in 2003, but hasn't perfromed as well at Infineon since, with a best finish of 16th. Look for him to change that.

15. Marcos Ambrose- Ambrose will be making his first Cup start this weekend for the Wood Brothers, and last year he had the Busch race at the Montreal road course won before Robby Gordon spun him out.