A debut win for the multiple V8 Supercar Champion looked like a distinct possibility as he prepared for the restart but it wasn't to be as he gradually got muscled out of several positions before a turn five tap from Elliott Sadler resulted in a spin and a broken transmission. It was a sad end to a great day for Ambrose, who will certainly be a major threat for honours at Watkins Glen later this year.
The courtesy shown in the early laps had been well and truly thrown out of the window now as Biffle spun Johnson in turn two as several others took enforced trips across the dirt. But David Reutimann's lap 101 crash owed nothing to anybody else's bad manners as a tyre failure pitched the #44 Toyota into the tyres to bring out the fourth caution of the race.
Through all this Busch continued to run untroubled at the front and his eyes must have lit up on the lap following the next restart when an ambitious move from Kevin Harvick in turn five tapped both McMurray and Stewart into a spin.
David Gilliland snaked through the chaos to grab second place but didn't have the pace to match Busch, who still had to overcome another restart after Scott Pruett hit somebody and deposited the contents of his oil pan all over the track.
Pruett's incident led to a red flag and then a green-white-chequered overtime finish but Busch was unfazed, getting the drop on Gilliland at the green flag and never looking back. After sneaking under the radar coming into this weekend Busch has not only increased his impressive championship lead, he has also further marked himself out as the man to beat in this year's title chase.
Second was a best ever result for Gilliland and the underfunded Yates Racing team with Jeff Gordon recovering from a poor start to take third. Clint Bowyer inherited fourth on the penultimate lap when Sadler suffered a puncture with Casey Mears fifth, Montoya sixth, Ryan Newman seventh, Matt Kenseth an unobtrusive eighth, Edwards a disappointed ninth and a fired up Tony Stewart in tenth.
