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Kyle Busch, driving in his second race for Richard Childress Racing, left the field behind over the final 20 laps and went on to get the victory in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race in Fontana, Calif.

Busch, who was a two-time champion drive for Joe Gibbs Racing, won for the 61st time in Cup. Those previous championships came in 2015 and 2019.

He led 24 of the race’s 200 laps at the 2-mile Fontana oval on Sunday.

“I death gripped that wheel through the second half of that race,” he said. “But we got it today.

Busch was fast in the season-opening Daytona 500 last weekend but finished 19th after crashing.

“Coulda, shoulda, woulda last week,” Busch said after Sunday’s win.

Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott finished second, 2.9 seconds back.

Third was Ross Chastain of Trackhouse Racing.

Daniel Suarez of Trackhouse was fourth while Kevin Harvick of Stewart-Haas Racing was fifth.

With just over 30 laps to go, Busch and Chastain pitted together as the field began to pit for it final stops. When the stops cycled through with 20 lto go, Busch had a 2.7-lead over Chastain. Right behind Chastain was Elliott.

Elliott, the 2021 Cup champion, passed Chastain for second shortly after but had nothing for Busch.

On Lap 86, a nine-car wreck occurred. Among the casualties was pole-sitter Christopher Bell, who finished the race in the garages. Also involved were Aric Almirola and Ryan Preece.

“It’s kind of stupid,” Preece said, “to be honest with you on a professional level and we all wreck on a restart.  I don’t know what happened, but just a victim of circumstances.  It sucks.”

(This story will be updated shortly)

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