FanHouse KurtBusch

SONOMA, Calif. (AP) -- Tony Stewart is off to such a strong first season as a team owner, he's already open to expansion.

The Sprint Cup Series points leader said Friday he'd consider adding a third team to Stewart-Haas Racing next year if the right combination was available. Although he promised his team not to expand too quickly, their success so far this season has made him consider his options.

"I wanted to make sure we had two cars that were competitive and had a chance to win a championship," he said Friday at Infineon Raceway. "I'm proud of the fact that I think we're at that point. So if the right situation came along, we would entertain it."

TALLEDEGA, Ala. -- Brad Keselowski did what any driver would do.

It was the last lap, and he had a shot to win his first NASCAR Sprint Cup race. So he held his line and powered forward.

That the ensuing collision between his Chevy and Carl Edwards's Ford as they approached the finish line resulted in Edwards taking a frightening airborne ride into grandstands fencing and injuring seven fans had less to do with Keselowski than the innate dangers of restrictor plate racing.

In fact, NASCAR started putting restrictor plates on the cars at its two super speedways in Talladega and Daytona because of a similar airborne accident at Talladega in 1987. The idea was to control speeds. Roof flaps developed in the 1990s were supposed to keep the cars on the ground.

And so the 25-year-old Keselowski, whose win came in only his fifth Cup start, didn't make apologies for the racing.

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It took 97 races, nearly four years and lot of decision-making but 50-year-old Mark Martin is back in NASCAR Sprint Cup victory lane.

Martin led the most laps of the Subway Fresh Fit 500k -- he also started from the pole position -- to win Saturday night's 312-miler at Phoenix International Raceway during his first season back as a full-time driver with Hendrick Motorsports.

Tony Stewart, Kurt Busch, Jimmie Johnson and Greg Biffle rounded out Top-5 of the afternoon-to-evening event.

It wasn't a great week and change to be the assistant of Sprint Cup Series driver Kurt Busch after the Las Vegas native won the series' last outing two weeks ago at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Thanks to a nameless, peculiar victory lap Busch unveiled after the win by driving his No. 2 Penske Racing Dodge in reverse in the correct counter-clockwise fashion for a full lap, ideas poured from all corners of the NASCAR world on what the lap should be called.

And because, you know, that's what people in NASCAR do, Busch announced Friday that the lap's official title will be the "Unwind Lap".

Ladies and gentlemen, join me in welcoming back ... Kurt Busch, driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge.

Let's hear it for Kurt.

It's been a while since he was a regular atop NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series leaderboard, but Busch is making an early-season case as a viable Hendrick-Roush-Childress buster -- a compelling alternative to the recent cast of championship characters.

Like his one-of-a-kind reverse victory lap at Atlanta two weeks ago, Busch and his Penske Racing team seem to be turning things around from a frustrating 2008 and what some consider an under-achieving tenure at the high profile team.

"You got to bang your head against a wall every now and then if you want to figure out what you need to do," Busch said Tuesday about his recent resurgence.

He may have ended the day going backwards, but Kurt Busch did just about everything right to stay up front Sunday.

As a result, Busch earned his first victory of 2009 in the Sprint Cup Series' Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

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NASCAR's tire supplier Goodyear better hope Sprint Cup driver Tony Stewart loses his voice this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway, otherwise they might be for yet another public relations nightmare.

A year removed from a post-race tirade that saw Stewart tell the world he would dispose of any Goodyear product he owned because the tires created virtually no grip for the heavy stock cars, the problem appears to be creeping up again.

To make matters worse, even the driver of the best car on Friday at the 1.5-mile track talked about the lack of control he felt while making laps at NASCAR's fastest track.

For the second week in a row, the Sprint Cup pole winner will start in the back.

Last week in California, Brian Vickers' engine change sent him to the back, and this week in Sin City, Kyle Busch will follow suit.

And Busch's Camry engine wasn't the only of the Toyota camp to go sour on Friday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, either.

On a night when Hollywood was honoring its best just miles down the road, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series saw a mellowed star continue his rise back to the top.

Matt Kenseth, fresh off his win in the rain a week ago in the season-opening Daytona 500, made it two in a row Sunday night by winning the Auto Club 500 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif.

And yes, this time it did go the full distance.

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