by Lee Spencer

Updated: May 11, 2008, 10:56 PM EST 499 comments

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Not only did Busch set a record-breaking pace of 140.350 mph in the Dodge Challenger 500 at Darlington Raceway en route to winning his third Cup race of the season, but the 23-year-old also became the youngest driver ever to tame the track.

Oh yeah, and the victory was the ninth of his 125-race Sprint Cup Series career.

"I can't tell you guys how proud of you I am," Busch said to his crew as he rounded the final corner and headed to the checkered flag. "It's pretty awesome. Darlington obviously showed again tonight that this is one of the hardest places — always has been and always will be. Even with the fresh asphalt, this place is tough."

Busch started sixth and effortlessly moved to the point for the first time on the frontstretch of Lap 17. Polesitter Greg Biffle offered the No. 18 competition throughout the early stages of the event, but then, Busch hit his first speed bump of the race as NASCAR penalized him to the rear of the field due to a loose lugnut on Lap 141.

Even though he restarted 23rd after the pit road miscue, Busch showed his strength by climbing back into the top 10 by Lap 172.

After battling back into the lead pack, Busch got his opportunity to take over the race once again when Biffle's engine expired on Lap 234. However, Busch would have to keep his No. 18 Toyota Camry in one piece, and that was not an easy task as he was one of several drivers who had issues with the handling of his machine.

Despite control issues and late race challenges from Gibbs teammate Denny Hamlin and rivals Carl Edwards, Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr., who finished second, third and fourth, respectively, a call for two tires on the final pit stop on Lap 303 enabled Busch to capture and maintain the lead for the final 64 circuits.

"It was an up and down sort of race," Busch said. "At the beginning of the race we were battling Biffle and got into lapped traffic. We were making adjustments all night. We dropped a lugnut there and fell back but rebounded nicely from the guys giving me good pitstops on pit road. I was driving up through the field there and fortunately we had the strategy at the end that got us into clean air."

Gordon led three times for 24 laps, but the seven-time Darlington winner had nothing for Busch in the closing laps.

"The No.18 was in an unbelievable class of his own," Gordon said. "Carl and his crew got their stuff better there at the end. We tried and tried and tried a lot of things and every time we got it a little bit better.

"But every time we tried to get it better than that, we went the wrong way with it. So, we just had to settle for a car that was a third-place car and hope we could get track position and we did."

Busch has won eight NASCAR races this season among the top three series and has been victorious for the last six weeks. Still, the response in the stands has been overwhelmingly negative. Busch the racer, however, just blows it off.

"I don't care," said Busch, who extended his points lead by 79 over Jeff Burton. "I'm here to race. I'm here to win. If I win, it just makes them more upset and crying on their way home."

Guess who's getting the last laugh?

Time will tell

At the start of the season, did you pick David Ragan as a Chase for the Sprint Cup contender?

With two top five's in the last three races, Ragan, 22, has jumped from 18th to 12th in the point standings. His fifth-place finish at Darlington places him ahead of his veteran Roush Fenway Racing teammates Jamie McMurray and Matt Kenseth. Ragan currently trails Biffle by 42 points.

"That's an awesome run," Ragan said. "Whether we were at Daytona, Talladega, Richmond or Bristol, that would be great, but to do it at Darlington is just something special. Darlington is an awesome track. You're running laps out there and you think about the guys that made this place famous like Cale Yarborough and (Bill) Elliott and David Pearson and people like that. It just makes you realize how fortunate we are to come out here and race at such a cool track. It's definitely one of the best tracks on the circuit.

"We had a lot fun. Our pit crew did an awesome job today. We picked up spots every time and it was an overall great run. We're getting this deal somewhat figured out. We've had some good race cars — we just have to fine tune a little bit to try and win one of these things."

Sweet surprise

Two weeks ago Dave Blaney watched the Talladega race from his couch after missing the show. Saturday night he found himself running as high as second before finishing the night in ninth place.

With both his future and the future of the No. 22 Bill Davis Racing Toyota team in question, Blaney has posted his top two finishes of the year in the past two weeks. Prior to his first top 10 in 2008, Blaney's best finish this season was 18th last week at Richmond. Blaney's career-high third-place finish at Darlington came in March 2003.

Better late than ...

Friday's Nationwide Series race winner Tony Stewart had his chances for a Darlington sweep thwarted when Elliott Sadler slid him into the Turn 1 wall on Lap 2. Stewart dropped from sixth to 40th, but with major adjustments throughout the race, he was able to finish 21st and didn't lose his eighth-place position in the standings.

Darlington 101

A funny thing happened to David Pearson on his way to the raceway on Friday. A security guard didn't recognize the 10-time Darlington winner and refused to let the former NASCAR champion into the facility. Finally, someone who was acquainted with both a grandstand and a local track artery that bears the legends name allowed Pearson access into the track.