Kyle Busch extended his lead in the NASCAR Sprint Cup points standings with a victory Sunday at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif.

Busch started 30th and picked his way through the field, which included the so-called road-course ringers, en route to his ninth career victory and his first on a road course.

David Gilliland was second in a Yates Racing Ford, his best career finish and the continuation of a good season for Yates Racing.

Some fans of NASCAR don’t particularly care for the road courses, but even though this blog is called Left Turns, I like the road courses just fine. The Sonoma track, with 11 turns, puts a premium on driving ability, but the tricky nature of navigating the corners means that anything can happen.

There’s a lot of bumping and griding, and as an old time hockey writer, I appreciate the contact.

And there was lots of contact, primarily caused by drivers going too hot into the corners and locking up the brakes …

– Defending Sonoma winner Juan Pablo Montoya was in second when he got spun out by Marcos Ambrose, the Australian happy roughhouser who seems to be a guy who can take someone out of the race and get away with it by laughing, smiling and saying, ‘Sorry, Mate, let’s have a Fosters.’

– Ambrose later got spun out by Elliott Sadler, who ended up 14 and himself spinning out and backing into the wall with a flat tire … fortunately after crossing the finishing line.

– Kevin Harvick, who got all sour at Montoya for spinning him out last year at Watkins Glen, spun out two cars and took out a third by entering a corner too hot near the end of the race. Jamie McMurray, who ran well all day for Roush Fenway, and Harvick pal Tony Stewart got spun out before Ron Fellows got collected as well. Stewart and McMurray were running second and third at the time.

And as a sign of how good Montoya and Stewart are, they both recovered for top 10 finishers — Montoya in sixth and Stewart in 10th.

Jeff Gordon ended up third, followed by Clint Bowyer with a solid run and Casey Mears, who reportedly has been told he won’t return to Hendrick Motorsports next season (Hmmm, is another Junior — Martin Truex Jr. — on the way from DEI to Hendrick). After Montoya, Ryan Newman, Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards and Stewart rounded out the top 10.

As for the point standings, the top five remained the same: Busch, Jeff Burton, Earnhardt II, Edwards and Jimmie Johnson. Jeff Gordon moved up three spots to sixth, followed by Greg Biffle, Denny Hamlin, Casey Kahne, Bowyer, Stewart and Kenseth, who moved up 2 spots into the top 12 for the first time this season. Harvick lost three spots and is 13th.