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Why Kurt Busch won
He was on the right side of the fuel gauge when the race ended. With about 44 laps to go, he and his crew figured to be two laps short on fuel. But he saved enough to pass the leader, his brother Kyle Busch, who ran out with two laps to go — one of four drivers who ran out of gas before the end.The turning pointThe final 50 laps became a test of calculators. Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, Mark Martin, David Reutimann, Matt Kenseth, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and others wondered if they’d make it to the end. Barely 20 laps from the end, Kyle Busch opted not to come in, instead trying to slow enough to keep gas and the lead. But he ran out two laps from the end.The points leaderJimmie Johnson lost more than 100 points off his lead because of a Lap 3 accident that had him off the track for more than an hour. He came back in time to put in 205 laps and gain six spots he would not have had otherwise. He will head into the final two races with a 73-point lead on Mark Martin.Who’s upDenny Hamlin gained three spots in the Chase with his runner-up finish, moving to No. 8. He brushed off a 38th-place showing at Talladega last week after winning the week before. The TMS finish was his sixth top-10 in nine races in Fort Worth.Who’s downSam Hornish Jr. failed to finish a race for the third consecutive week. He got loose after a tap from David Reutimann, and it caused him to hit Jimmie Johnson. "The big thing for us today is we were trying to make it to the end," Hornish said. "I was doing everything that I could just to try and keep the car moving forward."They said it"You hate to see it happen. That happened to us last week at Talladega. It’s a terrible feeling." Alan Gustafson, crew chief for Mark Martin, on Jimmie Johnson’s Lap 3 wreck."That’s awesome. I’m real happy for that guy. I think I heard him say he’s going to give us half." Kurt Busch, whose victory meant a $1 million prize for Michael McGee, an agriculture teacher and horse trainer from Broken Bow, Okla., in the Dickies American Worker of the Year contest.By the numbers20Sprint Cup victories in 326 starts for Kurt Busch.68Minutes off the track for Jimmie Johnson while his car was repaired. He left after an accident on Lap 2 and returned on Lap 115. He finished 38th, 129 laps down543Laps led over the weekend at TMS by Kyle Busch. He led 132 in the trucks race, 179 in the Nationwide race and 232 in the Dickies 500.
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