Loudon, NH -- (Sports Network) - Kurt Busch's crew chief Pat Tryson kept the No.2 Penske Racing Dodge on the track when all the leaders pitted for fuel, and it turned out to be the winning move as Busch captured Sunday afternoon's Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway when a rain storm came barreling through the Loudon area.

Busch was declared the winner as NASCAR officials called the race at lap 284.

The victory was Busch's first of the season and the 18th of his Sprint Cup career.

"I wouldn't be up here if it weren't for the crew," said Busch.

Michael Waltrip, J.J. Yeley, Martin Truex Jr. and Elliott Sadler completed the top-five. Only Truex Jr. had been in the top-10 before the final round of stops.

In just his 17th career start, surprise pole winner Patrick Carpentier led the field to the green flag to begin the scheduled 301-lap event. The rookie lasted four laps before going high and allowing both Kevin Harvick and Bobby Labonte to slide underneath him.

Harvick and Labonte quickly put some distance between themselves and Dale Earnhardt Jr., who had moved into third place ahead of the dropping Carpentier.

Harvick's No.29 Chevrolet was setting a fast pace that Labonte couldn't stay with and by lap 20 Harvick owned a two-second lead. "Junior" got around the outside of Labonte for second place on lap 22, but was still more than three seconds behind Harvick.

However, Earnhardt Jr. was the fastest car on the track and began to eat into Harvick's big lead. By lap 36, the gap was under one second as the leaders began to lap some of the slower cars.

"Junior" stuck his nose past Harvick on lap 44 to get five bonus points and on the next lap completed the move as the two continued to slice through the backmarkers.

A round of green flag pit stops and the earlier stop by Harvick (lap 68) allowed him to regain the race lead after everyone had cycled through. Earnhardt Jr. didn't stop until lap 72 and after a slower 15.2-second stop came out fourth behind Kasey Kahne and Truex Jr.

A lap 85 spin by Dario Franchitti slowed the race for the first time. At this point, Casey Mears and Brian Vickers elected to stay out, while Harvick lined up third after taking just two tires.

The clean air helped Mears and Vickers hold off Harvick for a while, but Harvick got around Vickers on lap 102. After battling with Vickers, Harvick was almost two seconds behind Mears. Mears was making the gamble work, but would need a caution flag before lap 150 if it was to be successful.

Mears got his caution flag on lap 138 (debris) while he still held a one- second lead on Stewart who had gotten around Harvick. Everyone pitted and Stewart won the race with Mears off pit lane and they restarted one-two on lap 142.

After the caution flag, Jeff Gordon's No.24 Chevrolet came to life as he charged around Harvick and Mears for second place before the race was slowed for a Joe Nemechek spin. With just 10 laps on the tires, the top cars stayed out on the track.

With some bad weather possibly headed towards the track, this run might determine the race. Stewart quickly built a lead of almost one second on Gordon with Mears and Harvick just behind.

By lap 185 Stewart had expanded the lead to two seconds and almost four seconds on Mears. Harvick, who had been running in fourth, began to slide backwards.

Stewart, Gordon and Mears remain on top of the pylon as the field approached the 200-lap mark, but Earnhardt Jr. was falling back through the top-10. Then on lap 203 the fourth caution flag of the day (A.J. Allmendinger) gave Earnhardt Jr. and Harvick the chance to fix their cars and get back into the fray.

Stewart's crew again got him off pit lane ahead of Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Mears. Harvick would restart in eighth place and "Junior" in 11th.

When Aric Almirola spun on lap 216, the leaders again chose to stay out, except for the No.5 Chevrolet of Mears and the No.18 Toyota of Kyle Busch.

Were Mears or Busch going to try and go the final 81 laps without stopping again?

They went back to green on lap 221 and the racing was getting intense. Kahne spun on lap 224, but the caution flag never came out. Stewart built his lead again, to 1.4 seconds at lap 235.

But Johnson, who had gotten around his teammate Gordon, was faster than Stewart and began cutting into the No.20 Toyota's lead. The No.48 Chevrolet chopped the lead to one second at lap 240 and by lap 255 it was half-a-second. Two laps later, he was right on Stewart's rear bumper.

The leaders would all have to stop one more time, unless the weather front arrived before lap 301.

Then on lap 271, Earnhardt Jr. was headed towards pit road for his final stop, and Jamie McMurray slammed into the back of the No.88 Chevrolet.

"I was focused on looking at the outside and never saw him," said an apologetic McMurray."

It was time for the pit crews and crew chiefs to earn their money. The first decision would be whether to pit at all or stay on the track. If you decided to pit would you take fuel only or two tires?

Eight cars, lead by Busch, elected to stay out and try to go the rest of the way without stopping. Denny Hamlin chose a fuel only stop coming out ninth, with Johnson and Gordon just behind. Stewart, the leader coming in, took two tires and came out 14th.

The race went back to green on lap 277, but a Clint Bowyer/Sam Hornish Jr. accident slowed the race two laps later. There was also an incident on the same lap between points leader Kyle Busch and Juan Pablo Montoya that ended with Busch being spun.

They were still under caution when then rain drops started to fall at lap 282. If the race didn't get back underway, Pat Tryson's decision to leave Busch out would be the winning move.

Two laps later, NASCAR officials pulled the cars down pit lane and put the race under the red flag. The race never got back underway as rain continued to fall and Busch was rewarded with his first win since August 2007 at Michigan.

Kyle Busch was credited with a 25th-place finish and will take a 64-point lead over Jeff Burton to the next event which is scheduled for Saturday night, July 5th at the Daytona International Speedway.