Truex Jr gets past Preece late to win Busch Light Clash, get back to victory lane
By Kyle Foster, photo courtesy of Eric Thompson (shamboozled.com)
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
Los Angeles-Last season was a rough one for Martin Tryex Jr. After all, he missed the NASCAR playoffs and didn’t win a race.
However, some of that talk can now be put to rest. Truex was able to get around Preece on lap 125 to win the Busch Light Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
“It’s huge. It’s a huge confidence booster,” Truex said afterward. “Just reminds you that you’re doing the right stuff. Honestly, we were probably the worst car here last year, literally, besides maybe the guys that didn’t have charters. We were just God awful. We barely made the race. (I) rode around the back and I spun out by myself on the last lap it was so bad, you know, trying to pass one car.”
This should give the Joe Gibbs Racing driver some confidence after having a good season that simply wasn’t good enough in 2022. After all, this was his first-ever win in the Busch Light Clash and Toyota’s seventh overall.
The 42-year-old veteran led the final 25 circuits after Ryan Preece had electrical issues that caused him to fall in the running order. Preece led a race-high 125 laps but couldn’t close the deal.
“I’m not shocked at all really. He’s a great short-track driver,” Truex explained of having to battle Preece. (He’s) won tons of short-track races, modifieds, et cetera. He’s run a lot of races in tracks like this or similar to this.
I wasn’t surprised at all, and I’ve raced with him before, and he’s in really probably better equipment now than he’s ever been, and I’m sure he’s got a really good team,” he continued.
It was also a great day for the Richard Childress Racing duo of Austin Dillon and Kyle Busch who finished second and third in the event. Last year, the duo was also in the top three, however, they just swapped this year as teammates at RCR.
“I don’t necessarily know what it is, but sometimes drivers will take to places,” Busch said of his success in LA. “But this place here being a short track, me growing up short track racing with some of the late models and stuff that I have done, I’ve been to a lot of places like this. Legends cars as well too over the years.”
Dillon said it was a fun day at the track as well. Obviously, having a pair of good races at one of NASCAR’s newest venues will do that.
“It was really fun. Our car was really good,” Dillon said. “It really kind of turned on that last practice. We figured out that our car was pretty good on the long run. We were able to qualify decent, which is good for us. Not a great qualifier usually at the short tracks.”
Rounding out the top 5 was the Hendrick Motorsports pair of Alex Bowman and Kyle Larson. Larson was able to gain nine spots after starting the race back in 14th.
After starting on the pole, Aric Almirola dropped like a rock finishing 18th. He led 16 laps in the main event. Five drivers, led in the event.
There was also carnage throughout the event. There was a total of 16 cautions, which is drastically different from the inaugural event last season.
Prior to the race Cypress Hill performed and at the midway break it was a concert by Wiz Khalifa. It is not yet known if the race will return.
After a week off, the NASCAR Cup Series kicks off its regular season at the Daytona 500. That race will take place on February 19th on Fox. Pole qualifying for The Great American Race will take place Wednesday night, with the Bluegreen Vacation Duels taking place on Thursday night.
Heat Races
To set the field, there were four heat races. It didn’t take long for there to be some action, either. Each heat race was 25 laps in distance.
In heat 1, it was Aric Almirola that won. He was followed by Bowman, Justin Haley, rookie Noah Gragson, and Joey Logano.
In the first race of the day, Gragson moved Harrison Burton on lap 2 as well. Buton ended up spinning in turn 2.
The second heat race was loaded with 5 former NASCAR Cup Series Champions. That race saw Truex win, followed by Busch, Dillon, Larson, and Harvick go to the main event. Harvick bumped Ricky Stenhouse Jr. on the final turn of lap 25 to advance to the main. Truex led twice for seven laps and battled with Busch throughout the race. Busch led 18 circuits before coming up short of Truex.
Elliott was the biggest name that missed advancing from the second race of the day.
The third heat was won by Hamlin who was followed by Briscoe, Reddick, Blaney, and Suarez. Hamlin led 20 of the 25 laps as well. Christopher Bell started on the pole and dropped like a fly as he finished
In that same race, Suarez bumped Brad Keselowski for the 7th spot on the 19th lap.
Winning the final heat race was William Byron. Others advancing from that race were Bubba Wallace, Ross Chastain, Preece, and Eric Jones. Jones bumped Allmendinger on turn 4 of lap 25 to get the final transfer spot. Allmendinger finished 7th in the heat race.
Following the four heat races, there was a pair of last-chance qualifiers where the top three in each advanced. Each of those races was 50 laps in distance.
In the first LCQ, it was the 2021 Daytona 500 winner and Front Row Motorsports driver Michael McDowell that won. Others advancing were Bell who failed to advance through his heat and another FRM driver of Todd Gilliland.
Most notably, Keselowski and Chris Buescher missed the main event from RFK Racing. Harrison Burton also missed the race after he overdrove the first turn on lap 42.
The final LCQ wasn’t too eventful. The race was won by Chase Elliott. Ty Gibbs and AJ Allmendinger also advanced. Getting the provisional was Austin Cindric by being the highest points driver not yet locked in.
