Busch recovers from loose wheel due to lucky yellow

The pit-road problems that seemed to dog Kurt Busch and the No. 2 Dodge team all season reared its ugly head again in Sunday's Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

However, the combination of smart pit strategy and a little luck put Busch in position to challenge for the win in the closing laps.

Starting fifth, Busch led twice for 17 laps early on. But things suddenly went sour on Lap 80 when the crew had trouble bolting the wheels on the car during a pit stop. Less than 20 laps later, Busch had to pit under green for a loose left-rear wheel -- which put the No. 2 down a lap, mired deep in the running order.

Now out of sequence with the lead-lap cars, Busch's only chance was to hope for a long green-flag run that would force everyone else to pit -- and then get a caution.

That's where teammate Ryan Newman unwittingly came to rescue. After a round of green-flag stops, Busch was running third when Newman spun through the grass in Turn 4 on Lap 149, guaranteeing that Busch would be able to pit and remain in contention.

From that point on, Busch was in the thick of the battle, running third behind Matt Kenseth and Martin Truex Jr. on the Lap 197 restart, having gained two positions in the pits.

The race then stayed green for the next 50 laps, forcing one last set of green-flag stops. Busch stopped for four tires and fuel on Lap 243, and even though the stop wasn't one of the team's best, he returned to the track in third place.

Then when Tony Stewart crashed with less than 15 laps remaining, Busch was all set for one last sprint.

"I felt like we had a legitimate shot at chasing Matt down," Busch said. "I had to pass [Truex] first of all. Once we cleared him, it just seemed like Matt and I had a beam mounted with his rear bumper and my front bumper.

"I couldn't break that 10 car-length advantage that he had. Not due to aero, just due to the fact that he was fast. The way that the race went all day he was the car to beat. We were a challenger and we came up a bit short. I thought we were going to give it our all and we came up in second place."

Despite the early-race issues, Busch was pleased with his best finish since winning at Michigan. That allowed him to move up three spots in the standings to finish seventh, his best effort since winning the championship in 2004.

"We feel like we went out with a bang with this good car," Busch said. "We came up just a bit shy, but overall just a great season for us to win a couple races and be in contention at a lot of racetracks.

"We finished seventh overall. That's a nice feather in the cap. This team deserves it. We worked really hard and hopefully we will carry this right on in to Daytona."