Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch ran 1-2 for much of the race on Sunday. Credit: CIA Stock Photo

Penske drivers may use Sonoma as turning point

Newman, Busch both have top-fives for just second time in 2006

SONOMA, Calif. -- Timing is everything. And it may have just saved Penske Racing's season.

Ryan Newman got just his second top-five of the season at Infineon. Credit: Autostock

Dodge/Save Mart 350 Official Results Pos. Driver Make 1. Jeff Gordon Chevy 2. Ryan Newman Dodge 3. Terry Labonte Chevy 4. Greg Biffle Ford 5. Kurt Busch Dodge 6. Carl Edwards Ford 7. Jeff Burton Chevy 8. Elliott Sadler Ford 9. Boris Said Ford 10. Jimmie Johnson Chevy • Complete results, click here • Official standings, click here SonomaWatch all the videos from Infineon Raceway Sign up for TrackPass now BUY THE NEXTEL i836

The two-car Dodge outfit, which entered Sonoma with just three top-five finishes all season, scored two more on Sunday, giving the team a lift heading into Saturday's Pepsi 400 at Daytona.

The finishes were nearly as unexpected as the struggles that have plagued the team all season. Both cars have been inconsistent all year, but Sonoma's slick road course masked the team's speedway problems.

None of Penske's top-five finishes have come on a 1.5-mile or 2-mile banked track, which make up the majority of races on the Nextel Cup schedule.

"We were running on adrenaline early on," Kurt Busch said. "Now we're starting to click. There's plenty of time left for things to go right."

Daytona is a welcome spot on the schedule for Penske because it was the only other weekend all season in which both Ryan Newman and Busch had fast racecars. Penske Racing has made tremendous restrictor-plate gains in the last two seasons, and Daytona is a golden opportunity for them to make up the ground they lost this spring.

"It's significant from where we finished, but we didn't look at it as that significant coming in," said Newman, who finished second at Sonoma. "We didn't say this is the place we've got to turn our season around.

"We got our second top-five of the season, and I'm ready for Daytona."

Newman's only other top-five finish came in the season-opening Daytona 500, where he finished second. He remained 17th in the standings, 215 points behind 10th-place Kevin Harvick.

Newman's only problem at Sonoma was battling the oppressive heat, which was made worse by a pair of 12-minute red flags.

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"The heat was bad. I had a cramp in my left butt cheek, and it's still there," Newman said. "About Lap 60 I started hurting pretty good. On every caution I tried to lift my butt up in the seat and that's hard to do when you've got your seat belt strapped in tight."

While Newman's chances to make the Chase for the Nextel Cup are slim, Busch's fifth-place finish at Sonoma gave him his third finish of ninth or better in the last three weeks. During that time, he has moved from 18th to 14th in the standings, just 165 points out of 10th.

Busch, who won the pole at Sonoma, led 29 laps and was never out of the top 10 all day. He lost considerable track position during the round of pit stops with 40 laps to go.

"We were able to pass a few guys, but right there at the end it was all about track position," Busch said. "We came out just behind them on our pit sequence."

"That's three good runs in a row and we'll just keep getting it hopefully."