There are two keys to a strong finish at a road course race – having a good-handling car and sound pit strategy.

Jeff Burton and the AT&T Racing team put both into play during Sunday's Toyota/Save Mart 350 and although a mid-race speeding penalty slowed their hopes of a top-five performance, it didn't put a damper their string of consistent finishes.

The 13th-place effort allowed Burton and Company to maintain the second position in the season championship point standings with 16 of 36 points-paying races now complete. He trails leader Kyle Busch by 103 points and is 49 points ahead of Dale Earnhardt Jr. in third, 155 forward of Carl Edwards in fourth and 223 ahead of Jimmie Johnson in fifth.

The green flag waved under a regal blue California sky on Sunday afternoon just past 2:15 p.m. local time and the full field of 43 race cars charged up the hill for the first of 110 scheduled laps of racing. Burton raced in and around his starting position of 20th for the first 25 laps and radioed to crew chief Scott Miller that he needed to turn better through the slow speed corner.

Sticking to the original plan, Miller summoned his veteran driver to pit road on lap 26 for a routine four-tire stop, including an air pressure adjustment to the left-front tire. The South Boston, Va., native returned to the 10-turn course 40th in the running order however, a timely caution flag flew three laps later and forced the majority of teams to make a pit stop.

Burton restarted fifth on lap 32 but wasn't able to hold his ground. He lost three spots before Miller once again called him to pit road on lap 67. The timing, just 43 laps from the checkered flag plus cushion for a possible green-white-checkered finish, was just at the edge of the fuel window. Miller told fuel man Curt Bowman and catch can man Andy Spenner to pack the AT&T Chevy full of fuel.

As the 20-time Cup Series winner pulled out of his pit box and down pit road before returning to the 1.99-mile track, he was caught speeding by NASCAR and by rule, had to come down pit road again and serve a pass-thru penalty.

After the penalty was served, Burton returned to racing 30th in the running order just as another timely caution flag flew on lap 69. Strategy once again played into the hands of the AT&T Racing team as it provide time for the teams who had not pitted to do so, ultimately offering the No. 31 team valuable track position.

With 35 laps remaining in the wine country classic, the 2008 Food City 500 winner would not have to visit pit road for the remainder of the event. He restarted 15th on lap 75 but raced in and around the top 20 for the next 29 circuits.

Two cautions flags slowed the competition over the final scheduled six laps, but the timing of the final one forced racing to conclude with a green-white-checkered finish. Luckily, Burton was able to maneuver around the spins that occurred in front of him that brought out both cautions and steadily brought his No. 31 machine home to a 13th-place finish.

Busch captured his fifth Cup Series victory of the 2008 season and was chased to the line by David Gilliand and Jeff Gordon. Burton's Richard Childress Childress Racing teammate Clint Bowyer finished fourth and Casey Mears rounded out the top-five finishers.

Burton's fellow RCR teammate Kevin Harvick finished 30th after he over drove turn seven and wheel-hopped the corner on lap 105, sending him into the Nos. 26 and 20 machines.

Next weekend the NASCAR Cup Series takes their tour from the west coast to the east coast for the first of two trips to the “Magic Mile.”

The LENOX Industrial Tools 301 from New Hampshire Motor Speedway will take the green flag Sunday, June 29 at 2 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. The race will be televised live on TNT beginning at 12:30 EDT and will broadcast coast-to-coast on the Motor Racing Network and Sirius Satellite Radio. Qualifying will be televised live on SPEED Friday, June 27 at 3 p.m. EDT.

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