Kurt Busch and his Penske Jasper powered Dodge was the class of the field today at the Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono. Busch started on the outside pole and never looked back, leading 175 laps on the way to his first victory of the year. Dale Earnhardt Jr, Denny Hamlin, Jeff Gordon and Jimmy Johnson rounded out the top-five.

Busch just missed winning the Bud Pole for today’s race and started on the outside of the first row. Leading the field to green for the first time since 2002 was Dale Earnhardt Jr, who claimed the pole after a rain delay on Friday, but it didn’t take long for Busch to stake his claim, as he wrestled the lead from Earnhardt Jr on the very first lap and was clearly the dominant car of the day.

While Busch had the car to beat, it took everything Earnhardt Jr could muster to bring home a second place finish. Earnhardt Jr had a broken shock which the DEI crew repaired on pit lane and Earnhardt Jr also cut a tire and spun in turn 3, only to recover to finish second to Busch.

More importantly, Busch also staked his claim on 12th place in NEXTEL Cup points, knocking Earnhardt Jr back to 13th place and off the stage… for now. With only 5 races left before the Chase for the Cup begins, Busch holds a 7 point lead over Earnhardt Jr and a 90 point lead over Ryan Newman (14th place in points).

Prior to day’s victory, Busch has one win and six top 5 finishes at Pocono, and has been one of the toughest drivers to beat at Pocono. Over the last two years, Kurt Busch has been second best at Pocono in average running position (8.7), driver rating (109.9), fastest laps run (108), laps in the top 15 (720), and second fastest average green lap speed.

Busch’s win ended a 52-race winless streak that dated back to March 2006. It was his 16th career Nextel Cup victory and his second at Pocono. Dale Earnhardt Jr, Denny Hamlin, Jeff Gordon and Jimmy Johnson rounded out the top-five, while Stewart, Newman, Clint Bowyer, Mark Martin and Casey Mears comprised the remainder of the top-10.

PJ Jones finished in 37th place substituting for Robby Gordon after NASCAR announced they were suspending Gordon for a race because of his actions during yesterday’s Busch race in Montreal. Jones practiced the car for Gordon yesterday and was familiar with the setup and race track. Robby watched the race from a top his pit road war wagon.

The next event on the Nextel Cup schedule is the Aug. 12 Centurion Boats at The Glen at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International. The second and final road course race of the season starts at 2 p.m..

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