JOLIET, Ill. --- The routine didn't change Saturday night: Kyle Busch won another race, celebrated with a thunderous burnout and capped off by a trademark bow at Chicagoland Speedway's finish line.

But make no mistake. This was a different Kyle Busch.

Gone was the bravado that fueled so much of his earlier success, replaced by a sense of humility. Instead of inciting fans to boo him, he reached out to them with hopes they could appreciate, or at least understand, the significance of his victory in the LifeLock.com 400.

"I'm trying (to win over the fans)," Busch said, "but all I can do is go out there and win races and try to do what I can to make my team happy and my sponsors happy and everybody that supports me and let's me drive that race car."

Busch had reason to be a little boastful after beating Jimmie Johnson in the final two laps. A caution after David Gilliland blew his engine set up a restart with two laps to go with Johnson out front -- and seemingly in control.

Busch got on the gas first, rammed Johnson's rear bumper and made the winning pass in the outside groove. Few, especially Johnson and Busch, expected the finish.

"I really wasn't thinking defense," Johnson said. "We had such a good car, I thought I would get away from him on the restart. He got a great start and was right there with me and just broke past that bumper plane through the center of (Turns) 1 and 2, and that was it."

Busch has won seven of 19 races this year, one of the best starts in the past 28 years in NASCAR's top series.

"I felt like we could go contend for wins week in and week out getting Kyle over there, but never winning seven races already, that's just crazy," said crew chief Steve Addington.

In his first six wins this year, it's been easy for Busch to be a bit haughty. His Joe Gibbs Racing-prepared Toyota has overwhelmed the competition. But Saturday night's win was different.

The car didn't determine the outcome; the driver did. And Busch understood the difference.

"I think this is the first time I said 'race over' and Jimmie Johnson didn't win," said Busch, who leads by 262 points in the Sprint Cup standings.

Reach Don Coble at don.coble@morris.com.