Busch is year's first three-time winner

BROOKLYN, Mich. -- About the only thing Kurt Busch and his team didn't change on his car Sunday at Michigan International Speedway was the number.

Making adjustments to his No. 97 Roush Racing Ford on every pit stop, Busch became the first three-time Winston Cup winner this season after snatching the lead from Jeff Gordon with 24 laps to go in the Sirius Satellite 400 at Michigan International Speedway.

That was the first time the 24-year-old NASCAR "Young Gun" led the 200-lap race. A late charge by pole-starter Bobby Labonte, who took second from Gordon on lap 185, came up 0.774-seconds -- about six car lengths -- short.

"We didn't quite have the setup," said Busch, who gave much of the credit for his seventh career win to crew chief Jimmy Fennig. "Jimmy and I decided to throw some things at it and made a car that would go to Victory Lane.

"We made all kinds of air pressure changes, wedge changes, track bar, you name it. ... It ended up in our favor at the end."

Labonte, a three-time Michigan winner, got one last shot at Busch after Todd Bodine brought out the ninth caution flag of the race with 10 laps remaining when he crashed in turn two on the 2-mile, high-banked oval.

Busch had Labonte's Chevrolet nearly on the back bumper of his Taurus when the green flag waved for the start of lap 196. Labonte made a strong move to the top of the track, but Busch held him off and pulled steadily away.

"I knew it was going to be tough to get away from Bobby," Busch said. "All I needed to do was hit turns three and four. If I could stretch it out from there, he wouldn't be able to draft up on us and I knew we could pull away.

"It was just a perfect car right at the end of the day."

Busch, who had seven top-10 finishes, including wins at Bristol and Fontana, Calif., in the first 11 races this season, had not finished better than 15th in his last three outings.

"It was just bad racing luck here and there," he said. "You have to adjust to it and roll with the punches. Eventually, when you have 36 races, everybody is going to have their share.

"We've also got a team that has learned from some mistakes. We're hot and we're rolling."

Labonte, who bounced back from a 17th-place run last Sunday at Pocono, finished third or better for the sixth time in his last seven starts.

"He knows when to drive it real hard and it seems like he's getting better at getting care of it if it's not quite right," Labonte said, referring to Busch. "He's a fast little racer."

Labonte was third when Busch took the lead. He passed Gordon for second on lap 185 after a short side-by-side battle and stayed there to the end.

Gordon, who wound up third, said, "To me, that was a winning effort. Unfortunately, we kept adjusting all day for the long run and it ended up being a short-run shootout."

Busch's pass for the lead came just one lap after another restart, and Gordon said the youngster won the race because "he's so good on cold tires. He was able to be really aggressive on the restart, took the air off my (rear) bumper and there was nothing I could really do about it."

Busch said, "I saw an opportunity to get by Gordon because his weak spot was turn four and that's where we finally got our car hooked up. That was going to be our shot to take him and we did."

Series points leader and defending race winner Matt Kenseth finished fourth, followed by Michael Waltrip, Sterling Marlin and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Kenseth now leads runner-up Earnhardt by 185 points. Busch, who averaged 131.219 mph in the race slowed by 41 laps of caution, remained fifth in the standings but moved within 65 points of fourth-place Labonte.

Monterey Grand Prix

MONTEREY, Calif. -- Polesitter Patrick Carpentier jumped out to the lead at the green flag and never surrendered it to win the Grand Prix of Monterey.

Carpentier beat runner-up Bruno Junqueira by 0.844 seconds in the CART race. Paul Tracy was third.

Canadian Grand Prix

MONTREAL -- Michael won his fourth race of the season and finally passed Kimi Raikkonen for the lead in the Formula One points standings by beating his brother, Ralf, in the Canadian Grand Prix.

Juan Pablo Montoya was third and Fernando Alonso fourth.

Honda Indy 225

FOUNTAIN, Colo. -- Scott Dixon won the Honda Indy 225 under a yellow flag for his second IRL victory this season.

Season points leader Tony Kanaan was runner-up for the second straight week.

Le Mans

LE MANS, France -- Bentley won its first Le Mans title since 1930, and driver Tom Kristensen set a record with his fourth straight victory in the 24-hour endurance race.

-- From wire reports