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Heading into the Lenox Industrial Tools 301, Kurt Busch, the 2004 Sprint Cup Series Champion, had struggled all season, with just two top-10's. Busch spent most of the race outside the top-10, but came to the pits on lap 217 for fuel, with plans to stay out the rest of the way.

After a wreck by Dale Earnhardt Jr. on lap 271, Busch gained the lead as the rest of the leaders came into the pits for fuel. Busch's concerns were making it to the end of the race with the remaining fuel in his tank, and holding off the pack in the final 25 laps.

However, just a couple of laps after the restart, Sam Hornish Jr. made contact with Clint Bowyer, sending the two spinning in turns three and four. The caution came out for the seventh time, and then the race was red-flagged for rain. Less than ten minutes after the red flag was thrown, Nascar called the race, giving Kurt Busch his first victory since August of last year.

"These guys made an awesome call," Busch said. "Sometimes you just don't win 'em 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 win vaulted Busch from 22nd to 18th in points. Busch is still 215 points behind Bowyer, who sits 12th in points, but this win was the first step towards a possible rebound for the team that has finished 32nd or worse five times in 17 races.

Behind Busch was Michael Waltrip, who earned his best finish since April of 2005, and J.J Yeley, who's third place finish tied the team's all-time best.

Meanwhile Tony Stewart dominated the race, leading 132 of 284 laps, but fell to 13th when Busch and others stayed out on the track or took fuel only on the last stop, and when the race ended just a couple laps later he was left with another disappointing finish.

"It's just been the oddest year I've ever seen for this race team," Stewart said. "It's just frustrating. There isn't anybody that's going to tell you any different than that. There's nothing you can do. If there was something we could do about it we'd change it."

Stewart's teammate Kyle Busch was involved in a late-race conflict with Juan Pablo Montoya. The two had bumped and ####ed in the laps before the final caution. Several moments after the field had slowed to caution speed, the two exchanged bumps on the front straightaway before Montoya turned into Busch, who's spinning car came back and made contact with Montoya and sent him spinning as well.

Montoya would be penalized two laps for reckless driving, and finished 32nd, while the points leader Busch finished 25th.

With just nine races left before the Chase begins, the battle to be in the top-12 is heating up, with 9th to 14th place seperated by just 97 points. 12th place Clint Bowyer is just 8 points ahead of Matt Kenseth who sits 13th.