Ask Kurt Busch which year he prefers — 2008 or 2009 — and he’ll pounce on the latter.

The defending winner of Sunday’s LENOX Industrial Tools 301, Busch is faring better in present times. Although he reveled in last June’s victory, it was one of the few bright spots in a season that saw him miss the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, plus finish an uncharacteristic 18th in the final standings.

A quick recap: Thanks to good fuel mileage and a timely final pit stop, Busch had surged to the lead when NASCAR officials called the race at Lap 284 of the scheduled 300 because of an approaching thunderstorm.

The celebration came in an empty garage building amid a lightning-spiked downpour, but Busch said his team earned every moment.

“When everybody pitted with, I don’t know, 30 laps to go — when I was told, ‘You’re in the lead, there’s 26 laps to go’ — that’s the most motivation a driver could ever ask for,” Busch said, “because you want to hold it off and bring it home for your team.

“So we were gonna have our work cut out for us. I felt we could have held off some the guys right behind us, and our pit strategy worked out perfect.”

Busch’s fourth season at Penske Racing appears to be working out, too. A year ago he was 22nd in the standings, trailing then-leader and brother Kyle Busch by 804 points, and 12th place — the final eligible spot for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup — by 288 points.

This year, Busch is fourth, 280 points behind leader Tony Stewart. He has one win — at Atlanta Motor Speedway — plus four top fives and eight top 10s. Busch also led the standings for one week, following the eighth race of the season, at Phoenix International Raceway.