Wait is worth it for Busch

Kurt Busch won the rain-delayed 3M Performance 400 in Brooklyn, Mich., on Tuesday to record a second victory in his last three starts.

Driving a Dodge Charger, Busch held off Martin Truex Jr. in a Chevrolet in a tight finish at Michigan International Speedway, where the race was sent into overtime after Greg Biffle spun out with two laps remaining.

Busch, who opted to stay on the track with old tires when two cautions were issued late in the race, pulled away from Truex after the green flag waved for a two-lap shootout on Lap 202.

Jimmie Johnson, also in a Chevrolet, finished third.

“It was tough and I’ve got to thank the fans who stuck it out on a Tuesday to see the green-white-checker [finish],” Busch said. “We put it on for them here at the end, after all of the re-starts and all of the guys on a different strategy. It was a tough, hard-fought win, but I’m really proud to bring it home.”

Busch, who started in 15th place on the grid before leading for 92 laps, ended a 51-race winless streak this month with a victory at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pa.

NASCAR’s points leader, Jeff Gordon, who began in the pole position, led for 25 laps before slipping back into 27th place.

Initially scheduled for Sunday, the Nextel Cup race was postponed for two days because of persistent rain. The last time a Cup race was held over on consecutive days was at the 1997 Winston 500 at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama.

Three more races remain in the regular season before the start of the 10-race playoff.

“I’m happy flying under the radar and I’m happy delivering wins for our sponsors and, right now, the most important thing is getting into the Chase [for the championship],” Busch said.

The 2004 Cup champion solidified his berth in the 12-man lineup for the upcoming Chase with the 17th win of his career.

Busch remains 12th in the standings, 33 points behind Truex. Dale Earnhardt Jr. jumped past Ryan Newman into 13th, but a slow pit stop late in the race cost him and he finished 12th. Earnhardt is 163 points behind Busch.

Busch’s late-season charge into the Chase has coincided with the arrival of crew chief Pat Tryson, who took over the job in June after being fired as Greg Biffle’s crew chief by Busch’s former employer, Jack Roush.

At that point, Busch was 15th in the standings and didn’t look like a candidate to make the Chase.

Busch said he’s simply following a game plan that works. “It’s just the same plan we’ve had for the last five or six weeks, which is just gain points and don’t lose track of the big picture, which is just get in the Chase.”

Earnhardt, desperately trying to make his way into the Chase lineup, was also a top-10 car most of the day, but he slid through his pits on a late stop and also fell out of contention.

“I made a mistake on that pit stop late in the race and that probably cost us about five spots,” said Earnhardt, who had to start from the rear of the 43-car field after his team changed the transmission on his No. 8 Chevy.

NASCAR’s top circuit had never run on a Tuesday after a weather postponement during the modern era, which began in 1973.