LONG POND – A slump for Kyle Busch could qualify as a banner year for some drivers.

Busch and his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing team are no strangers to victory lane, having racked up 200 wins and counting in NASCAR’s three national series during his career.

But Busch’s results in recent weeks have dipped below his lofty standard, with a 30th-place finish and two 10th-place results in his last five races.

The 34-year-old reasserted his dominance Sunday.

Busch led a race-high 79 laps en route to a convincing win at Pocono Raceway in the Pocono 400 in NASCAR’s Monster Energy Cup Series. It was the third victory for Busch in his last four starts at the “Tricky Triangle.”

“I think you could look at the finishes and say we were in a slump of finishing races for sure,” said Busch’s crew chief Adam Stevens. “We weren’t in a slump for running well. We were second on the last restart, I believe, at Talladega and got shuffled, and sped on pit road a couple times; it was at Kansas, I think, or one of them places where we drove through too many pit boxes racing the 88 for the lead.

“It’s not like we haven’t had speed and not like we haven’t been up front late in the races when it matters most. But certainly not finishing off the races and taking advantage of those opportunities will weigh on anybody that does this for a living. This is our job, so it’s nice to get back and put a whole weekend together and capitalize on it.”

Stevens has helped Busch master Pocono since the two joined forces in 2015, the year Busch won his championship. Including Sunday, Busch has an average finish of 9.4 in his past nine starts at the track, and his worst result in the past four races is third.

“I don’t know. You know, I felt like when I was here with Dave Rogers the last year or two I started to click on something, get a little bit better,” Busch said of his previous crew chief. “We finished third, we finished fourth. I think we finished better, and then when I got with Adam, it’s just kind of clicked.”

Busch had started to turn his fortunes around last week in Charlotte, where he finished third, a result that helped him take the series’ points lead away from defending champion Joey Logano.

The momentum carried over to Sunday, as Busch, who started second, and Stevens executed on pit road and survived a late restart to claim their fourth win of the year.

“We’ve been really, really good here with Adam,” said Busch. “Adam is obviously a great leader and a great crew chief and does a really good job being able to listen to me and through practice when we talk about what things I need help with and need worked on on the race car to make myself better in Turn 1 or Turn 2 or Turn 3, he’s able to give it to me, and that’s what makes a great crew chief.”

Busch went to the point for good with 20 laps to go when Daniel Hemric pitted from the lead, and survived a restart on Lap 152 to outlast teammate Erik Jones and Penske Racing’s Brad Keselowski.

Keselowski finished second, 2.224 seconds behind Busch, while Jones recorded a third-place finish. Chase Elliott and Clint Bowyer rounded out the top-five.

Kyle Larson, who swept the first two stages and led 35 laps, made contact with Bowyer on the final restart and limped home to a 26th-place finish.

“I feel like we had a good car,” said Larson. “It was a top-three speed, and probably third or fourth-best car. I just got really aggressive there and got myself in the wall.”

Polesitter William Byron led 25 laps and finished ninth.

Two of Busch’s main championship rivals struggled Sunday. Harvick suffered a penalty after pitting with 34 laps to go and was penalized for an uncontrolled tire, forcing a pass-through penalty. A mechanical issue dropped Harvick to a 22nd-place finish.

Martin Truex Jr. had engine trouble and went to the garage on Lap 94.

MOVING UP …. Busch’s victory was the 55th of his career in NASCAR’s premier series, moving him into a tie with Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace.

BEEN A WHILE … Prior to Sunday, Busch’s last win in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series was April 7 at Bristol.

UP NEXT … The series heads to Michigan International Speedway for the FireKeepers Casino 400.