Sonoma, Calif. ? It certainly seemed as if Kurt Busch’s season was in serious trouble just two months ago, when poor performances led to an intense radio tirade against his entire Penske Racing organization.

What could have destroyed his race team actually has had the opposite effect.

Busch’s impressive turnaround continued Sunday with a dominating run at Infineon Raceway, where he earned his first career road-course victory and his first win of the season.

“We’ve been on a great run these last few weeks,” Busch said. “To get a road-course win, it’s a big check mark on my list. It’s just really neat to bring home that ‘W.”‘

Busch led a race-high 76 laps and beat Jeff Gordon by almost four seconds for his first victory of the season. It’s a marked turn for Busch, who unraveled over his team radio at Richmond in early May because of how poorly his Dodge had been running.

The rant led to behind-the-scenes changes at Penske Racing that have sparked both Busch and teammate Brad Keselowski, who won at Kansas earlier this month. Busch, despite three consecutive poles, was winless but inching closer and closer.

It finally came on a road course, of all places. Busch was winless in 10 career starts at both Sonoma and Watkins Glen.