Martin Truex Jr. Takes the Busch Light Clash

Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images for NASCAR

NASCAR

Martin Truex Jr Earns First Win in Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – After going winless and failing to make the Playoffs a season ago, Martin Truex Jr. is victorious in the Busch Light Clash. While MTJ did not lead the most laps, the No. 19 Toyota came to life when it counted. Still a non-points paying win, the Clash should give this Joe Gibbs Racing team momentum in what hopes to be a comeback season.

Under the lights in year two from the L.A. Coliseum, the Clash certainly delivered on excitement and drama. Last year’s inaugural Coliseum show only yielded five cautions, while this year’s saw a whopping 16 yellow flags.

The first half of the Clash would belong to another Toyota, Bubba Wallace. The No. 23 took command on lap 43 and led through the race’s halfway break. Wallace would only lose the top spot to a methodical Ryan Preece on lap 83. Amazingly, Preece took over from the outside lane on a restart, flexing his short track prowess learned in Modifieds.

As laps wound down, Preece appeared to be in prime position to win his first start in the No. 41. Another contender would emerge late though in the No. 19 of Truex. The 2017 Cup champion slowly made gains on Preece’s bumper, finally getting by with 25 laps left.

Despite having to hold off the field on two late restarts, Truex was not to be denied. The 19 was the star of the night in Los Angeles, pulling away from the competition in the closing laps.

“Just a really good racecar,” Truex said after the win. “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 ourselves 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.”

2023 marks the record 11th time that Joe Gibbs Racing has won the Busch Light Clash. Truex joins Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth and Erik Jones as JGR Clash winners.

Coming up just shy of the win were the teammate duo from Richard Childress Racing: Austin Dillon and Kyle Busch. In his first race with the No. 8, Busch mounted an impressive recovery from a lap 86 spin to a podium position. Other top-10 finishers were: Alex Bowman, Kyle Larson, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Preece, Ross Chastain, Denny Hamlin, and William Byron.

Truex entered the night 0-11 in past Busch Light Clash appearances, taking his first win in the exhibition event. MTJ will try and erase a similar winless drought in two weeks, as he pursues his first Daytona 500 victory. Coverage of the 65th Running of The Great American Race will be Sunday, February 19 at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. Can Truex continue this hot streak and find victory lane again?

Written by Peter Stratta

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Photo Credit to Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images for NASCAR