Notes: Martin marks return with another top-five finish (cont'd)

"Our hearts dropped when we saw the yellow pop out, being in position for a real good run," Busch said. "It felt like we had everything in place for what we needed to do for the [team] to win."

But Busch acknowledged his heartache was nothing compared to the struggles of his crew chief Roy McCauley, who took a leave of absence earlier in the week to be with his wife, Amy, who is battling cancer.

Troy Raker filled in for McCauley atop the pit box.

"I think the crew did a great job with Troy Raker stepping in as crew chief because Roy has his personal thing with his wife," team owner Roger Penske said.

Two out of three isn't that bad

Chip Ganassi Racing scored two top-10 finishes on Sunday with rookie Juan Montoya placing eighth and David Stremme two spots behind him in 10th.

It was Stremme's first top-10 finish of his career.

"It's a career best, but I thought we were headed for a better finish [Sunday]," Stremme said. "Still a top-10 at Texas is pretty good and we moved back up to 12th in the series standings. We've done what we set out to do in these first few races."

For Montoya, it was his second top-10 on a 1.5-mile track (he was fifth at Atlanta). Yet he, too, was striving for better.

"It's funny. You know, I was very happy with like a 19th in Martinsville two weeks ago and finish eighth [Sunday] and I'm a little disappointed," said Montoya, who had a problem in the pits as well as making contact with Tony Stewart on Lap 240.

The third part of the Ganassi team -- Reed Sorenson -- had a strong run going until retiring on Lap 197 with engine trouble. He finished 40th.

Texas-sized storage unit

Why was a third of the Nextel Cup garage full of cars, under covers, 45 minutes after the Samsung 500? They're part of a cross-country exodus to Phoenix, site of the series' next race.

"NASCAR and the racetrack are allowing us to leave them here to make the swap and go on to Phoenix," said Peter Jellen, transporter driver for Joe Gibbs Racing's No. 18 Chevrolet.

Other haulers were leaving the garage area. A NASCAR inspector said teams were making the exchange in a variety of ways, with some trucks returning to the Charlotte, N.C., area from Texas on Sunday while others will come from the Carolinas carrying Cars of Tomorrow for Phoenix, exchange equipment, pick up the Texas cars and head back home.

Dave Rodman contributed to this report.