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RICHMOND, Va. — Jeff Gordon said he didn't want to lose it this past weekend. Kyle Busch found it. And Tony Stewart continues to harness it.

Momentum.

In a mechanical sport that can be dictated by the smallest parts -- a fallen lug nut for example -- the idea that momentum plays a role in a team's performance could seem laughable.

Yet, Gordon proclaimed a day before Saturday night's NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Richmond that he needed a good finish to keep building momentum from his Texas win last month. He placed eighth but it might not be enough.

When Kyle Busch took the checkered flag first, he completed a weekend sweep that could lead to more burnouts and bows. Stewart's runner-up finish moved him closer to the points lead, a remarkable turnaround that Jeff Burton joked could lead more drivers to become owners.

Stewart moved to third in the points with his fourth top-five in the last five races and teammate Ryan Newman has climbed 17 spots in the points in the last five races. New personnel, new attitude and Hendrick Motorsports equipment play a role in the strong runs lately for both, but Stewart says that's not all.

"Momentum's everything,'' he said. "That's what you need going into the Chase. You need to have that confidence that goes with the momentum to feel like every day when you go out there, you've got a shot to win the race."

That's the way Busch feels again. Busch had not finished better than 17th in the four Cup races since his Bristol victory in March.

"Four or five weeks does feel like an eternity," he said of his recent Cup winless drought.

Busch struggled so much that his goal was just to score a top-10 this weekend although his career average at Richmond before Saturday was a sixth-place finish.

His turnaround came Thursday night when he won the Limited Late Model race at Southside Speedway, held to support teammate Denny Hamlin's foundation. The next night Busch won the Nationwide race at Richmond. And then the Cup race Saturday.

The win gives Busch 50 victories in NASCAR's top series — 15 in Cup, 24 in Nationwide and 11 in Trucks. Busch says his goal is to score 200 wins among those series.

"I know it's not 200 Cup victories like Richard Petty has," Busch said. "It will still be a phenomenal mark for me."

Busch's third victory of the year puts pressure on others, including Gordon. Each victory before in the first 26 races is worth 10 bonus points for the start of the Chase. Busch now has 20 more bonus points than Gordon.

Despite his first top-10 finish in the last three races, Gordon left Richmond "frustrated with the way we ran.

"We've got to be racing (Busch) for the wins. He's the guy to beat. I thought we were going to be better than that. We weren't good enough. We missed it."

One person who was good enough was Hamlin until a pit road problem ended his chances to win at his hometown track. Hamlin, who led a race-high 148 laps, entered pit road with the lead on lap 274. Car owner Joe Gibbs said two lug nuts fell off the right front tire, costing Hamlin time. Hamlin exited pit road eighth and got stuck in traffic the rest of the race. His team later changed two tires instead of four for track position, but the plan backfired and Hamlin fell to 14th at the finish.

"You don't take anything out of it, other than frustration," Mike Ford, Hamlin's crew chief, said of the finish.

And bad momentum.

This was the team's third finish outside the top 10 in the last four races.

"There's no way to predicting when that momentum is going to stop or when it's going to start," Stewart said.

With the series headed to Darlington this week comes another chance to either continue momentum or change it.

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