INDIANAPOLIS -- Not even a full circuit had been completed in Sunday's Brickyard 400 and Kyle Busch was already off track, literally.

"I don't know what happened there on the opening lap. I just lost it, I guess. It just went around," said Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

“

The car handled alright. We were a little bit tight all day. We kind of got it loose a couple times and were fast that way, but man it was so edgy to drive. I didn't want to wreck the thing.

”

-- KYLE BUSCH

Busch spun coming out of Turn 2 on Lap 1 causing a chain reaction collision behind him. Fortunately for the No. 18 team, Busch said his car suffered only minor damage.

After his spin, Busch went to pit road where the crew cleaned the grass from the grill and patched a small hole in the left-front quarter panel without losing a lap. Then he was able to make a much needed recovery through the field starting from the 35th position.

"I had trouble every restart really trying to get going, especially through [Turns] 1 and 2," said Busch, who when exiting the car after the race was still covered in grass from the first-lap incident. "I had trouble getting going on restarts. All in all, we came back and bounced back solidly, so that was good. We needed a good run. It's been a while."

The team's performance has been spotty as of late. Not since Pocono in June has Busch finished inside the top 10.

Sunday's finish will point the team in the right direction, but it was a finish that didn't come easily.

"I think it was fighting. We fought all day," Busch said. "We saved the day. It was just a mistake made early there that almost had us in big, big trouble. Fortunately, we came back."

And the team rallied back in a hurry. By Lap 26, Busch had already picked up several spots, nearing the top 10 and by Lap 55, Busch was in ninth -- where he would remain for the rest of the race and ultimately finish eighth.

"The car handled alright. We were a little bit tight all day. We kind of got it loose a couple times and were fast that way, but man it was so edgy to drive," Busch explained. "I didn't want to wreck the thing. We just needed a solid run [Sunday]. We need to find speed somewhere else, not having to be so much on the edge."

Heading back to Pocono next weekend, Busch is sixth in the Cup Series point standings and also breaking in a new spotter. His former spotter, Jeff Dickerson, gave notice at Chicagoland he would not return in 2011 and Eddie D'Hondt replaced him immediately thereafter.

Busch said the transition is going well so far.

"Eddie was with me for all three races and he did a great job," Busch said. "We're going to go have some lunch later this week and talk about a couple of things on how he did, how I liked it, and what maybe [crew chief] Dave Rogers wants to hear different, but so far, so good."