Addington finds vindication in Atlanta with Busch win

HAMPTON, Ga. -- Vindicated. That's how Steve Addington feels after steering Kurt Busch to Victory Lane on Sunday before little brother Kyle Busch had the opportunity to get there first.

"If I denied that I'd be lying," Addington said following the Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. "It honestly feels good to be with this race team -- with Kurt as the driver -- and come back and win before the No. 18 car got a chance to win. That's a personal deal ... I'm still great friends with Kyle, it's just a relief in a certain way."

Busch wins again

Kurt Busch dominated the spring race in 2009 and he found himself in Victory Lane again one year later.

• Complete story
• Final Laps: Atlanta
• Victory Lane: Atlanta
• Press Pass: Busch, Addington

Coincidentally, Addington's first Cup Series win as a crew chief came with the younger Busch at Atlanta in the spring of 2008.

Addington was Kyle Busch's crew chief at Joe Gibbs Racing when the two set the 2008 season on fire with eight Cup wins. Although the next season the No. 18 team only won four races and Addington was removed from the post and offered a job in the Nationwide Series, he declined but maintains the split from the organization was amicable.

And before Addington even had time to think about the unemployment line, older brother Busch rang him up and asked him to join him and the "Blue Deuce" at Penske Racing.

Initially people thought Addington was crazy to take on another Busch, known for their sharp verbal assaults and tantrum like behavior on the radio, but Addington just wanted to work with someone as eager to win as he is.

That was Kurt Busch.

"You know, I didn't win this race [Sunday]," Addington said. "Kurt won this race with these guys on pit road, these guys that put this car together and worked on it through practice. This was a total team effort all weekend long."

For a brand new partnership, Busch is impressed with how quickly he and Addington have gelled.

"We were able to get it right and hit just perfect with the marks [Sunday]," Busch said. "Even on all the restarts at the end, I just felt like we had the car to beat."

The car to beat was something Addington knew he had on Friday afternoon. The team made a lot of adjustments, revisited some setups and hit on something in particular Saturday during the final practice session.

"I slept good [Saturday] night," Addington said. "That was a different feeling that I've had in a long time to be able to go in and rest because I felt confident that I had the feedback I needed to go out and win this race with Kurt Busch."

And it wasn't an easy race to win with multiple green-white-checkered finishes, but the No. 2 Dodge was what Busch called a utility-type car. It was good on long runs and short runs, good on tires and fast on the restarts.

"I'll tell you one thing that changed, and it changed for the better, is the guy sitting to my right," Busch said looking at Addington during the post-race news conference.

"Steve Addington has taught me how to drive cars differently, how to look at them differently. When you want to get up on the wheel for somebody like Steve, good things happen."

And now both Busch brothers are aware of what Addington is capable of. He's capable of dealing with two of the sport's most colorful yet explosive personalities.

"I haven't even yelled at him yet so it feels good," Busch laughed.