JOLIET, Ill. -- Nothing seemed to be working right for Kurt Busch and his No. 2 Dodge as the weekend progressed at Chicagoland Speedway.

He struggled to get up to a competitive speed during practice sessions and qualified poorly. And then, after qualifying in the 35th position, which would have put him on the inside of Row 18 at the start of Sunday's USG Sheetrock 400, he learned that he needed to have the engine changed in his machine.

That meant he was booted to the very back of the 43-car field -- not that far from where he would have started, but worse nonetheless. It did not seem to bode well for him heading into the race.

But with the new engine in place and the collective jaw of his team set with a steely determination to march toward the front, Busch eventually scratched out a sixth-place finish Sunday. Coming on the heels of a third-place finish one week earlier in the Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway, it helped move Busch up one spot to 14th in the driver standings.

"We had a really good run [Sunday]," Busch said. "We just kept creeping up on 'em. Starting 43rd, we just had to take our time and really put a maneuverable setup in the car where I could go low and I could go high.

"It turned out really positive. The team had solid pit stops. We thought we had a top-five, but ended up sixth."

The top 12 drivers after 26 races qualify for the Chase for the Nextel Cup, NASCAR's version of the postseason playoffs that cover the final 10 races of the season. Had Busch not been docked 100 points earlier this season for driving onto pit road and initiating an incident with Tony Stewart (and endangering one of Stewart's crew members by nearly running him over), he would be 12th in the standings.

He said the key Sunday was not panicking when his team learned the engine change had to be made.

"We had something internally," Busch said. "I think it was the plug out of the back of the cam shaft. See, you've got to have oil pressure when you run. That's what took us out of it. It was unfortunate. We didn't even make a lap with it.

"We had to start in the back and work our way forward. Those are the rules and that's what we did."

Busch said he had to stay patient and pick off the cars in front of him one at a time.

"You just got to stay on pace and take your time," Busch said. "You can have a bad pit stop at the beginning of the race and go to the back. You just have to stay consistent and stay smooth."

Lap-by-Lap

Tony Stewart got by Matt Kenseth for good on Lap 233 and went on to win the USG Sheetrock 400 at Chicagoland.

• Lap-by-Lap, click here
• Race Video, click here

He had moved up to 31st after just 15 laps, 17th by Lap 45, and was 12th by Lap 60. He finally broke into the top 10 around Lap 165 and eventually climbed as high as fourth before falling back just a little by the end.

"We were good. I just couldn't run the top groove," he said. "I needed the lapped cars to yield, but they're not going to get out of the way. I needed that bottom groove, it seemed like, at the end. That was where we were making hay. It was just tough when the lapped cars were there, I couldn't quite get around them as quickly as some of the other guys could.

"I'm bummed that we didn't get a top-five. I've only got three tracks that I've raced on that I don't have a top-five on [Chicagoland, Kansas and Watkins Glen] but sixth is great, especially coming from where we did."

Busch's team has had to overcome adversity all year. He began the season with Roy McCauley as his crew chief, but McCauley took a leave of absence to be with his ill wife. Pat Tryson, who began the season as crew chief of Greg Biffle's No. 16 car at Roush Fenway Racing but left to join Penske Racing, eventually took over for McCauley.

Busch said Tryson is beginning to make a positive difference as the team heads into an off-week prior to the next Cup race at Indianapolis on July 29.

"We're just plugging away. Everybody is hitting their stride," Busch said. "Pat Tryson has had some good input the last few weeks. It's nice to have a week off to see what we can add to our Indy car, so hopefully we're even better there.

"Who knows what we can do? Right now we're just trying to stay consistent. ... It just seems like we keep getting cards dealt to us that are tough to play. But if we just sit there and take our time and wait for the right cards to come to us, we'll be in great shape. I'm hoping that they do, because a third and a sixth the last two weeks feel really good right now."