Busch is getting hang of the road

SONOMA, Calif. -- Kyle Busch struggled with the twisty Infineon Raceway road course here when he joined NASCAR’s top circuit three years ago.

“I looked like a fish out of water at first,” acknowledged Busch who, like many Sprint Cup drivers, grew up racing mainly on ovals. “I got pretty good, I guess, a little bit later on.”

By Sunday, he had become very good.

Busch dominated the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at the 1.99-mile Infineon course for his series-high fifth win of the season and increased his lead in the championship standings.

Busch praised crew chief Steve Addington and the rest of his Joe Gibbs Racing team for adjustments that made his No. 18 Toyota Camry so strong, because the car was “junk” when it arrived in wine country last week.

“It means so much to me that these guys were able to do that,” said Busch, whose stellar season and cocky confidence have earned him nicknames such as “Wild Thing” and made him a driver many NASCAR fans love to hate.

“We changed everything from Friday and Saturday,” he said. “I thought it was just going to be a dismal weekend, and I was trying to figure out what tire barrier I was going to put it in.”

David Gilliland, a Riverside native and friend of Busch’s, finished second for his best finish since joining the Cup series two years ago at this race.

The Yates Racing driver knows the hilly Infineon course well. He and his father, Butch Gilliland, previously raced here in NASCAR’s lower-level series.

Five-time Infineon winner Jeff Gordon finished third for Hendrick Motorsports, and Clint Bowyer of Richard Childress Racing was fourth.

Gilliland, who started 31st, said he wanted to catch Busch in the final laps but then switched his focus to simply staying in front of Gordon, a four-time Cup champion.

Seeing Gordon in his rear-view mirror was “an uncomfortable feeling, I can tell you that,” Gilliland said. “It was in my hands not to make a mistake, and that’s harder than it sounds here.”

Busch, a 23-year-old Las Vegas native, has now proved he can win on any type of layout at the Cup level -- short tracks, intermediates, superspeedways and road courses. In April, while racing in NASCAR’s second-tier Nationwide Series, Busch also won a road-course race in Mexico City.

On Sunday, Busch jumped from his 30th starting spot to 13th during the first green-flag run and then led nearly the entire second half of the race in front of an estimated 100,000.

But Busch had to survive three restarts after caution periods at the end, one of which forced the race into a two-lap overtime.

But he kept his car ahead each time and was never seriously challenged by Gilliland or Gordon.

“We were able to stay up front and run only as hard as we needed to,” Busch said.

One caution period occurred with six laps remaining when Kevin Harvick hit Jamie McMurray, who in turn hit Busch teammate Tony Stewart.

That dropped Stewart to a 10th-place finish after the two-time Infineon winner looked poised for a top-three result.

“We got ourselves in a position to run second there and then it just didn’t work out,” Stewart said.

Juan Pablo Montoya, who won the race last year, was in contention again until Lap 74, when he made contact with Marcos Ambrose and dropped to 14th. But he climbed back to a sixth-place finish.

“It was a good race car,” Montoya said. “We just got tangled up.”

Busch came to Infineon with a 32-point lead over Jeff Burton in the standings but widened his lead to 103 points after Burton finished 13th.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., who conceded he’s not a big fan of road racing, nonetheless finished 12th and stayed third in the title standings, 152 points behind Busch.

The Dodge of pole-sitter Kasey Kahne faded quickly and he finished 33rd. Reigning Cup champion Jimmie Johnson led 27 laps early, but his Chevrolet also fell back and he finished 15th.

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The race was Ambrose’s first in the Cup series, and he made a strong impression before succumbing to his second mishap late in the race.

Ambrose, an Australian who normally races in the Nationwide Series, qualified his Ford in seventh and ran as high as third before his day ended after a collision with Elliott Sadler.

“It’s just unfortunate,” said Ambrose, who finished next to last in the 43-car field. “But we leave here with our heads held high.”

Indeed, his run gave a much-needed boost to the beleaguered Wood Brothers team, which was one of NASCAR’s top teams in the 1960s and ‘70s with such drivers as David Pearson and Cale Yarborough. But the team has often struggled since then and has not reached Victory Lane since 2001.

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Ford driver Jason Bowles of Ontario held off the Toyota of Eric Holmes of Escalon, Calif., to win the NASCAR Camping World Series West race at Infineon on Friday.

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james.peltz@latimes.com