by Mike Harmon

Updated: May 13, 2008, 2:33 PM EST Comment

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Busch had struggled at Darlington historically, but the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota could not be slowed. He hit the wall several times and was penalized for a loose lug nut, yet still found his way to the top of the pack. Love Busch or detest him, but there's no denying his ability.

He held off the charge of Carl Edwards, who battled through the pack to finish second after qualifying 36th. Edwards will look to parlay that strong effort into a top-tier run at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

My AT&T Fantasy Dominator selection for last week, Jeff Gordon, lived up to his past brilliance at Darlington and provided a tremendous run to third. I said before the race that I had a feeling that the No. 24 Hendrick team was ready to put together a big run. Don't make me look bad, Mr. Gordon.

Gordon's teammate (and the man who replaced Busch on team Hendrick), Dale Earnhardt, Jr., once again raced among the leaders and produced a strong fourth-place finish. Junior was unable to snap his lengthy winless streak, but his fans, his team and fantasy participants certainly can't complain with run of strong showings to open 2008.

David Ragan rounded out the top 5 with his second top-five finish in the past three events. Would you believe that he's in the Chase right now?

Fantasy heroes Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin and Jeff Burton made top-10 appearances, but our Fantasy Fix hero Greg Biffle endured a depressing finish. Biffle led 95 laps at Darlington and was going to be a challenger for another checkered flag. Alas, mechanical failures kicked him down to 43rd place.

Fans who love paint trading and narrow misses certainly got their entertainment value this past weekend. Take a breath and enjoy the All-Star Race this weekend (Kevin Harvick is the defending champion of this event). We'll regroup and rally for the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's next Cup race.