Infineon thoughts and observations

So much for the slump. Kyle Busch snapped a recent streak of bad luck by winning the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway in dominating fashion, his first Sprint Cup Series road course win. David Gilliland finished a career best second, followed by Jeff Gordon, Clint Bowyer and Casey Mears.

Thoughts and observations

So much for starting positions mattering on road courses. Kyle Busch drove all the way from 30th place to win Sunday's race and second place finisher David Gilliland started 31st. Of course, Juan Pablo Montoya won last year's race from 32nd position.

Whatever slump Kyle Busch was in was quickly washed away with that dominating win. Busch is becoming arguably the best all-around driver on the circuit this year with wins on a road course (Infineon), super speedway (Talladega), intermediate (Lowe's, Atlanta) and short track (Dover). Incase your wondering, that's every type of track that the Sprint Cup races on. Not bad huh?

Considering I picked everyone and their brother to surprise this weekend, the one driver I didn't pick was David Gilliland. I should have known better frankly. Gilliland cut his teeth at Infineon, winning two Camping World West races at the track. He also made his first career cup start there in 2006 driving for CJM Racing in the No. 72 Chevrolet. Watch out for him at Watkins Glen in a few months, he might do even better there.

Casey Mears certainly picked a good time to finish in the top 5 considering all the talk about his future. Rumors are flying about Mears and his future with Hendrick Motorsports. One rumor has Mark Martin jumping ship from Dale Earnhardt Inc. and either driving full or part-time in the No. 5 next year. Of course, that would leave Casey Mears high and dry. One hopes he can nail down a few more top 5's and maybe secure his future with Hendrick Motorsports.

It wasn't a very good day Sunday for the road course ringers. The highest finishing ringer ended up being former Cup champion Terry Labonte who finished 17th. Both Ron Fellows and Marcos Ambrose were threats to win at one point in the race but bad luck hit both drivers. Ambrose broke his transmission when Elliott Sadler spun him out while running in the top 5 and Ron Fellows got caught up in the Stewart/Harvick/McMurray mess while running 6th. Boris Said, Scott Pruett, Brian Simo and Max Papis were all non-factors.

Speaking of Ambrose, wasn't it good to see the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford running up front, even if it didn't last? I, for one, was really rooting for the team to pull off the huge upset. But alas, it wasn't to be.

When did Matt Kenseth become a road racer? Somehow, against all odds (and history), Kenseth some how managed to earn his 6th straight top 10 at his worst career track. Oh, and by the way, he's moved himself up into the 12th position, the last chase eligible spot.

Matt Kenseth's gain is Kevin Harvick's pain. Harvick's bad luck late in the running of Sunday's race bumped him down 3 spots to 13th in the Cup points standings.

No changes in the top 35 in owner points after this weekend's race. The No. 66 Haas/CNC Racing Chevrolet remains in 36th, 20 points behind the No. 41 Target Dodge of Chip Ganassi Racing in 35th place.