NASCAR: Truex Jr. wins Busch Light Clash in LA

Martin Truex Jr. won the Busch Light Clash at The Coliseum, pulling away from late-race chaos Sunday evening to prevail in the second edition of the preseason exhibition at the historic Los Angeles venue.

Truex’s No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota led the final 25 laps in the 150-lap main event on the temporary quarter-mile oval, bumping past contender Ryan Preece to take command. The victory was Truex’s first in the non-points event, which was slowed by 16 caution periods.

Austin Dillon was the runner-up, with new Richard Childress Racing teammate Kyle Busch behind him in third. Hendrick Motorsports teammates Alex Bowman and Kyle Larson rounded out the top five in that order.

Bubba Wallace was the leader at the halftime break on Lap 75, but the two other first-half leaders found early trouble. Aric Almirola started from the pole position after winning the first qualifying heat, but he was shuffled out of line during a Lap 17 restart. His No. 10 Ford fell dramatically through the order, and he was a lap down with 10 to go before the halfway point.

Denny Hamlin, winner of Heat No. 3, took control and led the next 26 laps before a nudge from Wallace triggered a lead change. Hamlin faded, and his No. 11 Toyota later spun after another bump, this time from rival Ross Chastain on Lap 74.

The NASCAR Cup Series officially opens the season with the 65th annual Daytona 500 on Feb. 19.

QUOTES

Q. Martin Truex Jr. has done a lot of things in his career, but winning the Clash is one that you never accomplished until now. What a mess it was for you guys here last year, but what was the difference tonight? You guys were good from the time you unloaded.

MARTIN TRUEX JR: Yeah, just a really good race car, but the guys did a great job with this Bass Pro Shops CLUB Toyota Camry, Tracker Boats, Reser Fine Foods, Auto-Owners, True Timber, Rocks, Cessna, just all of our partners that let us do this.

Last year was a pretty rough season for us with no wins, and to come out here and kick it off this way, really proud of all these guys. Tonight was kind of persevere, not give up, just battle through and we found ourself in the right spot at the end.

Sometimes they work out your way and sometimes they don’t. Tonight it went our way, and we made some good adjustments, too.

Race Results

POS	CAR	DRIVER	MANUF	CAR	BEHIND	LAPS
1	19	Martin Truex Jr.		Bass Pro Shops Toyota	—	150
2	3	Austin Dillon		Get Bioethanol Chevrolet	0.786	150
3	8	Kyle Busch		BetMGM Chevrolet	1.144	150
4	48	Alex Bowman		Ally Chevrolet	1.842	150
5	5	Kyle Larson		HendrickCars.com Chevrolet	2.458	150
6	45	Tyler Reddick		MoneyLion Toyota	2.961	150
7	41	Ryan Preece		United Rentals Ford	3.531	150
8	1	Ross Chastain		Worldwide Express Chevrolet	5.021	150
9	11	Denny Hamlin		Sport Clips Haircuts Toyota	5.741	150
10	24	William Byron		RaptorTough.com Chevrolet	6.205	150
11	31	Justin Haley		Celsius Chevrolet	6.250	150
12	4	Kevin Harvick		Busch Light Ford	6.402	150
13	20	Christopher Bell		Interstate Batteries Toyota	6.624	150
14	42	Noah Gragson #		Sunseeker Resort Chevrolet	6.894	150
15	14	Chase Briscoe		Mahindra Tractors Ford	6.903	150
16	22	Joey Logano		Shell Pennzoil Ford	6.939	150
17	12	Ryan Blaney		Menards/Great Lakes Flooring Ford	7.591	150
18	10	Aric Almirola		Smithfield Ford	7.622	150
19	99	Daniel Suarez		Jockey Chevrolet	7.971	150
20	16	AJ Allmendinger		Action Industries Chevrolet	8.177	150
21	9	Chase Elliott		NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet	8.442	150
22	23	Bubba Wallace		DoorDash Toyota	10.297	150
23	38	Todd Gilliland		gener8tor Skills Ford	-10	140
24	34	Michael McDowell		FR8Auctions.com Ford	-13	137
25	2	Austin Cindric		Freightliner Ford	-44	106
26	54	Ty Gibbs #		Monster Energy Toyota	-69	81
27	43	Erik Jones		Allegiant Chevrolet	-134	16

# DENOTES ROOKIE
(I) NOT ELIGIBLE FOR POINTS
(*) REQUIRED TO QUALIFY ON TIME