Burton’s Charge: From 36th to First

Jeff Burton had the biggest come-from-behind victory ever in a Busch Series race at Dover International Speedway in Dover, Del., overcoming a 36th-place starting position for his second victory of the season Saturday.

Burton, eighth in the Nextel Cup standings, grabbed the lead for good with 18 laps left and pulled away to win the caution-marred race. He has 22 career Busch victories.

“We were really good, but on long runs we were unbelievably good,” Burton said. “The car was fast all day. The race at the end was a lot of fun. It doesn’t get much better than that.”

Carl Edwards, who led most of the early laps, finished second for his sixth top-five finish of the season. Kurt Busch was third as the Cup regulars again dominated the series.

Burton’s win made Nextel Cup regulars a perfect 14 for 14 in Busch races this season. He also won in Atlanta.

The race was slowed because of eight cautions for 34 laps, which knocked several drivers out of the race. There were 11 lead changes among eight drivers.

Rain wiped out qualifying, putting series points leader Kevin Harvick on the pole. Harvick finished 13th and increased his lead over Edwards to 297 points.

“That was probably racing at its finest,” Busch said. “That turned into a great race to watch.”

*

Two-time defending Champ Car champion Sebastien Bourdais, winner of the first three races, earned his third pole of the season and the 21st of his career for today’s Milwaukee Mile at West Allis, Wis., the only oval race for the Champ Car series.

The Frenchman gave Newman/Haas Racing its first Milwaukee pole since Mario Andretti led qualifying in 1985. He did it running only one of the two qualifying laps allowed.

*

Helio Castroneves has the pole position for the Watkins Glen Indy Grand Prix at Watkins Glen, N.Y. Castroneves was award the top spot after qualifying was canceled because of rain. Castroneves had the fastest lap of 133.792 mph in the first two rounds of practice.

*

Australia’s Mat Mladin ended Yoshimura Suzuki teammate Ben Spies’ winning streak at six, taking the first leg of the Suzuki Superbike Doubleheader at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis.

*

Mike Price avoided the bad luck that struck three of his challengers to win his second consecutive super late model feature race at Irwindale Speedway.

Rod Johnson, who was running second, dropped to eighth when he slowed to avoid hitting the Monte Carlo driven by Todd Southwell on the restart of the 23rd lap after a yellow flag.

Jim McGill moved into second on the 26th lap, but dropped out five laps later because of mechanical problems.

Van Knill finished second, 3.101 seconds behind Price in the 50-lap race. Johnson was third.

-- Steven Herbert