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HAMPTON, Ga. — If it's not one Busch brother, it's the other.

Kurt Busch followed his younger brother's victory last week by winning Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway in a race where the drivers looked like 16-year-old novices behind the wheel with as much fishtailing as their cars did.

Blame the car — as Dale Earnhardt Jr. did this weekend — and the tire — a sentiment shared by many others — for a race that looked as if it was held on ice. Cars slapped the wall so often that sponsors might get rebates because their decals were smeared by the contact.

Sunday's race, though, will be remembered more for Jimmy Watts. A gasman with Marcos Ambrose's team — and a Charlotte firefighter in his regular job — Watts ran through the infield grass to rescue an errant tire as cars whizzed close by at more than 180 mph. NASCAR threw a caution for Watts' safety during the middle of a pit cycle. The caution left only six cars on the lead lap less than 70 laps into the race.

The caution made it easier for Kurt Busch to dominate, although he might have done so even with more challengers. Busch led 234 of the 330 laps and even recorded a perfect score in NASCAR's complicated driver rating.

For those who dislike the Busch brothers, this could be a season of your discontent. Kurt Busch ranks third in the points with three top-10 finishes in the first four races. While Kyle Busch was an uncompetitive 18th Sunday, he is seventh in the points.

Kyle Busch seems to be headed toward another strong season, but, suddenly so does his brother. Kurt Busch's lone victory last season came in a rain-shortened race when he inherited the lead shortly before the rain.

This time, weather wasn't a factor and Busch was. He's shown greater strength at the 1.5 and 2-mile tracks this season. Auto Club Speedway, Las Vegas and Atlanta, coming in consecutive weekends, often foretell who will be strong this season since more tracks are like those than any other style.

Busch's turnaround goes beyond the race track, though. His team is stronger. That's pivotal for Penske Racing, which saw Ryan Newman leave last year for Tony Stewart's unproven operation, and Busch clearly frustrated at times.

Car owner Roger Penske, who has 63 Cup victories but never matched the dominance he's had in Indy Car racing, says that little change in personnel this offseason has made Busch's team stronger.

"The same people are with us," Penske said. "They saw how committed (the team was) to the chassis, to the aerodynamics, to the engine program last year.

"To me, it's like running a business. A business isn't successful the first day or the first year. I think I had to get Kurt to buy into that."

Now, other teams might have to do so.

"We're back in business," Penske said.

He's not alone. So is Jeff Gordon. He remained the points leader with his runner-up finish. Gordon has placed no worse than 13th so far this season.

"This team has really shown consistently in all four races this year that we're a team that can battle up front and for the win," said Gordon, who passed Carl Edwards for second but couldn't catch Kurt Busch in the final two-lap shootout, as Busch went on to collect his 19th career victory.

While his career-long winless streak grew to 45 races, Gordon reaffirmed his belief to his team after the race.

"It's too early to peak anyhow," Gordon radioed his crew. "We're going to get better."

He spoke shortly before Busch spun his car around at the start/finish line and did a victory lap with his car in reverse.

"I maintained a lot of speed," Busch said with shock and pride.

Forward or backward his car was fast.

And Kurt Busch just might be back.

Contact Dustin Long at 373-7062 or dustin.long@news-record.com