Sunday's post-race report

Dodge Challenger 500
Darlington (S.C.) Raceway

The winner and how he did it: Kyle Busch bounced off the wall repeatedly, prompting Jeff Gordon to say, "He didn't win it on aerodynamics." Maybe it made him faster. He led 169 out of 367 laps.

Nothing new: Busch has finished first, second and first in the last three races, and in the top 10 in five straight. He's built a 79-point bulge in points over Jeff Burton, who finished 10th.

Highly unusual: It's rare these days for any track records to be set. At Darlington, records for both qualifying (Greg Biffle, 179.442 mph) and the race (Busch, 140.350) fell.

Assorted trivialities and historical notables:
*At age 23, Busch has already won nine Cup races. Only 54 drivers have won more.

*Busch's best previous Darlington finish had been seventh.

*Forty-three drivers have won Cup races at Darlington. Busch is the youngest. He was nine months, eight days younger than Terry Labonte when Labonte won at Darlington on Sept. 1, 1980.

*Jeff Gordon matched a season-best mark by finishing third.

*The highest-finishing rookie was 28th-place Michael McDowell.

*The race featured 35 lead changes.

Mentionable stuff they said later:
*"Let's line them up and go again. I want to set my car up again, though. We were a little off, and it wasn't nowhere near the same car we had earlier. When you're off and you finish fourth, I guess it's pretty good." - Dale Earnhardt Jr.

*"That was a really solid effort, and it was all done in the pits. (Crew chief) Steve Letarte did a great job calling the race. We were gaining spots all night long." - Jeff Gordon

*"I thought I'd been running all night, and I looked up and it had only been 100 laps. Mentally it's the toughest track we go (to)." - David Ragan

*"We just need to keep that bull's eye on us." - Kyle Busch

*"The new surface is growing on me." - Carl Edwards (second).