On a night when many eyes were on how the new asphalt surface held up and whether a second racing lane developed, Busch showed the front was the place to be.

He repeatedly pulled away on long runs and restarts, including two after a 13-minute red-flag stoppage with 12 laps remaining.

On the last one, with three laps to go, Busch never got closer than a car length ahead of Greg Biffle, but hung on to win by 0.150 seconds.

"This is only one of many hopefully," said Busch, who had three second-place finishes in his brief career. He also moved into the series points lead, passing Martin Truex Jr., who was seventh, by 15 points. More