Kurt Busch has won the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway in northern California.
Australia’s Marcos Ambrose ran as high as second, but simply did not have the car to compete for the victory – he finished fifth.
Busch, who had scored three-straight pole positions before the weekend, started 12th but quickly drove to the front and controlled the race from that point.
Even when others pitted out of sequence to gain track position, Busch’s Penske team stuck to their game plan to take his first win of the year.
“It was an unbelievable set-up today,” said Busch.
“Once the car got in the grove from lap five we just stepped it up.
“We had to conserve our rear tyres and make sure we had good fuel mileage. We did that and the Dodge never missed a beat.”
Others who looked likely to challenge included Tony Stewart, but after he turned Brian Vickers on lap #38 the pay-back came big late in the race. The Red Bull driver dumping Stewart with the Chevrolet ending up stuck on the top of a tyre wall.
That late caution came with Ambrose in third place. His crew decided to take four fresh tyres with the hope of driving back to the front. However, he was forced to re-start 16th and spent the final 20 laps passing others who stayed out.
Of those who didn’t pit was second place finisher Jeff Gordon and championship leader Carl Edwards who finished third. Fourth place went to Clint Bowyer.
RACE RESULTS: Toyota/Save Mart 350
| FIN | ST | DRIVER | MAKE | SPONSOR | PTS/BNS | LAPS | STATUS |
| 1 | 11 | Kurt Busch | Dodge | Shell / Pennzoil | 48/5 | 110 | Running |
| 2 | 13 | Jeff Gordon | Chevrolet | DuPont | 42/0 | 110 | Running |
| 3 | 23 | Carl Edwards | Ford | Scotts Ortho | 41/0 | 110 | Running |
| 4 | 9 | Clint Bowyer | Chevrolet | Cheerios / Hamburger Helper | 41/1 | 110 | Running |
| 5 | 8 | Marcos Ambrose | Ford | Stanley | 39/0 | 110 | Running |
| 6 | 1 | Joey Logano | Toyota | The Home Depot | 39/1 | 110 | Running |
| 7 | 12 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | Lowe’s / Jimmie Johnson Foundation | 37/0 | 110 | Running |
| 8 | 14 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | NAPA Auto Parts | 36/0 | 110 | Running |
| 9 | 26 | Kevin Harvick | Chevrolet | Rheem Tankless Water Heaters | 36/1 | 110 | Running |
| 10 | 15 | Brad Keselowski | Dodge | Miller Lite | 34/0 | 110 | Running |
| 11 | 19 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | M&M’s Pretzel | 33/0 | 110 | Running |
| 12 | 29 | David Gilliland | Ford | Taco Bell | 33/1 | 110 | Running |
| 13 | 7 | A.J. Allmendinger | Ford | Best Buy | 31/0 | 110 | Running |
| 14 | 33 | Matt Kenseth | Ford | Crown Royal | 30/0 | 110 | Running |
| 15 | 2 | Jamie McMurray | Chevrolet | McDonald’s | 29/0 | 110 | Running |
| 16 | 24 | Regan Smith | Chevrolet | Furniture Row Companies | 29/1 | 110 | Running |
| 17 | 3 | Paul Menard | Chevrolet | Duracell / Menards | 27/0 | 110 | Running |
| 18 | 28 | Robby Gordon | Dodge | Speed Energy / GNC | 26/0 | 110 | Running |
| 19 | 16 | Mark Martin | Chevrolet | Farmers Insurance | 25/0 | 110 | Running |
| 20 | 6 | Kasey Kahne | Toyota | Red Bull | 24/0 | 110 | Running |
| 21 | 25 | Jeff Burton | Chevrolet | Caterpillar | 23/0 | 110 | Running |
| 22 | 17 | Juan Montoya | Chevrolet | Cottonelle | 23/1 | 110 | Running |
| 23 | 22 | Greg Biffle | Ford | 3M | 21/0 | 110 | Running |
| 24 | 32 | David Reutimann | Toyota | Aaron’s Dream Machine | 20/0 | 110 | Running |
| 25 | 5 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | Haas Automation | 19/0 | 110 | Running |
| 26 | 43 | Andy Pilgrim | Chevrolet | Red Line Oil | 18/0 | 110 | Running |
| 27 | 42 | Chris Cook | Ford | “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” | 17/0 | 110 | Running |
| 28 | 30 | Boris Said | Chevrolet | Thank A Teacher Today | 16/0 | 110 | Running |
| 29 | 34 | David Ragan | Ford | UPS “We Love Logistics” | 15/0 | 110 | Running |
| 30 | 38 | Michael McDowell | Toyota | HP Racing LLC | 14/0 | 110 | Running |
| 31 | 36 | Dave Blaney | Chevrolet | Big Red | 13/0 | 110 | Running |
| 32 | 39 | Terry Labonte | Ford | C&J Energy | 12/0 | 110 | Running |
| 33 | 40 | Brian Simo | Ford | ARMA Energy | 11/0 | 109 | Running |
| 34 | 27 | Casey Mears | Toyota | GEICO | 10/0 | 108 | Running |
| 35 | 41 | Andy Lally * | Ford | Interstate Moving Services | 9/0 | 104 | Running |
| 36 | 10 | Brian Vickers | Toyota | Red Bull | 8/0 | 103 | Running |
| 37 | 4 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | FedEx Freight | 8/1 | 99 | Running |
| 38 | 21 | Bobby Labonte | Toyota | Clorox / Kleenex | 6/0 | 91 | Running |
| 39 | 20 | Tony Stewart | Chevrolet | Office Depot / Mobil 1 | 6/1 | 88 | Accident |
| 40 | 31 | Joe Nemechek | Toyota | Hostetler Almonds | 0 | 66 | Transmission |
| 41 | 18 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Chevrolet | Amp Energy / National Guard | 3/0 | 45 | Overheating |
| 42 | 37 | Mike Skinner | Toyota | Big Red | 0 | 10 | Ignition |
| 43 | 35 | P.J. Jones | Dodge | Speed Energy / GNC | 1/0 | 5 | Susp. |
CHAMPIONSHIP: After Race 16 of 36
| RANK | DRIVER | POINTS |
| 1 | Carl Edwards | 573 |
| 2 | Kevin Harvick | 548 |
| 3 | Jimmie Johnson | 540 |
| 4 | Kurt Busch | 539 |
| 5 | Kyle Busch | 536 |
| 6 | Matt Kenseth | 521 |
| 7 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | 508 |
| 8 | Clint Bowyer | 496 |
| 9 | Jeff Gordon | 480 |
| 10 | Ryan Newman | 475 |
| 11 | Denny Hamlin | 463 |
| 12 | Tony Stewart | 460 |
| 13 | Greg Biffle | 446 |
| 14 | Mark Martin | 443 |
| 15 | A.J. Allmendinger | 433 |
| 16 | Juan Montoya | 432 |
| 17 | Paul Menard | 429 |
| 18 | Martin Truex Jr. | 412 |
| 19 | Kasey Kahne | 411 |
| 20 | David Ragan | 410 |
| 21 | Marcos Ambrose | 408 |
| 22 | Brad Keselowski | 398 |
| 23 | Joey Logano | 398 |
| 24 | Jeff Burton | 368 |
| 25 | David Reutimann | 361 |
| 26 | Brian Vickers | 356 |
| 27 | Jamie McMurray | 355 |
| 28 | Regan Smith | 351 |
| 29 | Bobby Labonte | 332 |
| 30 | David Gilliland | 287 |
| 31 | Dave Blaney | 244 |
| 32 | Casey Mears | 229 |
| 33 | Robby Gordon | 183 |
| 34 | Andy Lally* | 169 |
| 35 | Tony Raines | 117 |
| 36 | Bill Elliott | 100 |
| 37 | Ken Schrader | 73 |
| 38 | Michael McDowell | 59 |
| 39 | Terry Labonte | 52 |
| 40 | J.J. Yeley | 51 |
| 41 | David Stremme | 27 |
| 42 | Michael Waltrip | 20 |
| 43 | Andy Pilgrim | 18 |
| 44 | Chris Cook | 17 |
| 45 | Boris Said | 16 |
| 46 | Brian Simo | 11 |
| 47 | T.J. Bell* | 5 |
| 48 | Brian Keselowski* | 3 |
| 49 | Steve Park | 2 |
| 50 | P.J. Jones | 1 |
| 51 | Trevor Bayne | 0 |
| 52 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 0 |
| 53 | Landon Cassill | 0 |
| 54 | Steve Wallace | 0 |
| 55 | Mike Skinner | 0 |
| 56 | Travis Kvapil | 0 |
| 57 | Mike Bliss | 0 |
| 58 | Hermie Sadler | 0 |
| 59 | Patrick Carpentier | 0 |
| 60 | Sam Hornish Jr. | 0 |
| 61 | David Starr | 0 |
| 62 | Johnny Sauter | 0 |
| 63 | Scott Wimmer | 0 |
| 64 | Robert Richardson Jr. | 0 |
| 65 | Dennis Setzer | 0 |
| 66 | Joe Nemechek | 0 |
| 67 | Todd Bodine | 0 |
| 68 | Scott Riggs | 0 |
| 69 | Kevin Conway | 0 |
| 70 | Derrike Cope | 0 |
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