That's how Busch wound up ending his 29-race winless string Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in the rain-shortened Lenox Industrial Tools 301, while the frustrated Stewart simply added another disheartening loss to his own winless string that has reached 31 races.

"Sometimes you just don't win 'em the right way," Busch said. "I think we can honestly say that, but we had a lot of work and a lot of effort put in today and we'll take it."