Penske Racing’s Kurt Busch rolled the dice on Sunday afternoon to win the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Not really amongst the front-runners throughout the race, as the Sprint Cup race began to close in on its conclusive lap of number 301, the skies above the speedway began to darken and rain looked imminent. Aware of this, all the crew chiefs in the pits tried to decide upon to the correct strategy to set their cars up for a finish everyone knew was coming, albeit it not really knowing when. With drama and heavy moisture in the air, on lap 272, Dale Earnhardt and Jamie McMurray crashed just beyond the apex of turn four, bringing out the caution flag. Three laps later, while all the leading cars dove into pit lane, Kurt Busch — the gas tank of his Dodge Charger running on empty — chose to take a major gamble and remain out on the circuit to gain track position, the Miller Lite car assuming the number one position immediately behind the pace car. On lap number 279 the green flag was waved and the race started again, Busch leading the way. On lap number 279 of what was scheduled to be a 301-lap race, Clint Bowyer and Sam Hornish crashed in a heap in turn four, while Kyle Busch and Juan Montoya, caught up in some sort of personal drama, decided to take it out on one another with their cars, causing yet another separate crash. The track a mess, the race went back under caution for a number of laps with Kurt Busch leading Michael Waltrip, J.J. Yeley and Martin Truex. On lap number 285 the sky opened up sending a deluge of rain down on the New Hampshire facility. A NASCAR official reached for the red flag and it was unfurled and swung back and forth bringing all the cars to a stop on pit lane. A few minutes later, the rain coming down in sheets, NASCAR decided to call the race “complete” and Busch, declared the winner, climbed out of his Dodge and up onto the car’s roof to celebrate with the fans.

“This is unbelievable,” said a very happy Busch to the TNT television network. “Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good.”

Michael Waltrip held on to place a surprising second in the MWR Toyota Camry, while J.J. Yeley and his Hall of Fame Racing Toyota were third. Martin Truex Jr. was fourth and Elliott Sadler was fifth in his Gillett Evernham Motorsports Dodge.

"We weren't the fastest car, and we didn't deserve to win, but the record book will show that we won the Lenox 301," added Busch of winning his first race of the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Season and the 18th of his career. Chimed in Busch’s crew chief Pat Tryson: "We had a pretty good car all day We topped off the fuel (on lap number 218) and were pretty close to making it to the end. We were hoping for some cautions, we got them, and I told Kurt that we were going to stay on the racetrack and take a gamble. It worked and it got us a win."