LOS ANGELES – Martin Truex Jr. started the 2023 NASCAR season on a high note with a win at the Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum on Sunday which was held at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
Truex started the Clash on the outside row next to Aric Almirola but fought his way to stay in contention for the top spot the entire race and avoided getting wrapped up in any of the 16 caution flags that were waved in the 150 laps.
The No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota held off Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch, Alex Bowman, and Kyle Larson to pick up the win. Busch finished in third place after he was caught up in a spin-out toward the end of the race. Both Busch and Dillon drove Richard Childress Racing to the top five.
Bubba Wallace was fighting for first in the No. 23 Door Dash Toyota but Dillon spun him out on Lap 143. Wallace finished 22nd and the last car on the lead lap.
The 42-year-old New Jersey native has 31 career NASCAR Cup wins.
Ryan Preece, driver of the No. 41 United Rentals Ford Mustang
Preece qualified 24th to start sixth in Heat No. 4. He finished 4 in Heat to start 16th in the Feature.
Preece finished seventh in the Feature after leading 42 laps. Completed all 150 laps.
“As soon as (Martin) Truex caught me. I don’t know if it was with 30 (laps) to go, but five laps before he caught me it was the fuel pump going bad,” said Preece. “I mean, what are you gonna do? You’re a sitting duck. This is a motor racetrack. It’s two drag strips and when you lose all the power, you’re just a sitting duck. At first, I thought it was ignition because usually when it’s fuel it just keeps cutting, so I shut off my alternator and all of my electrical stuff and it seemed to help a little bit. It did it again and I lost four spots, so I just flipped the switch and a miracle happened. Ultimately, this car was so badass. It was so fast. We drove from 16th outside, inside, everything it took. I’m proud of the speed. I’m happy for the opportunity, but it sucks giving them away.”
Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Busch Light Ford Mustang
Harvick qualified 14th to start fourth in Heat No. 2. He finished fifth in Heat to start 18th in Feature.
Harvick finished 12th in Feature, completing all 150 laps.
“It was a complete hackfest,” Harvick added.
Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang
Briscoe qualified 15th to start fourth in Heat No. 3. He finished second in Heat to start seventh in Feature.
Briscoe finished 15th in Feature, completing all 150 laps.
“For us, we were never really good all weekend on a short run, and that kind of killed us at the beginning. We kind of lost our track position. There weren’t really very many long runs. On long runs, we would always kind of go forward, and then you’d be beating and banging, obviously. I got turned around there at one time and it was really hard to pass. I felt like unless you were maybe three or four of those cars, they were really the only ones that were good enough to move through the field. We were one of those cars, I felt like if you put us in fourth or fifth, we would maintain, but we weren’t good enough to drive from the back to the front. We were just a little bit off. We just needed a little bit more.”
Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang
Almirola qualified fifth to start second in Heat No. 1. He finished first in Heat to start first in Feature.
Almirola finished 18th in Feature after leading the opening 16 laps. He completed all 150 laps.
“Man, we just made a big mistake there. I didn’t get notified that it was the chosen lap and we got stuck on the outside and lost track position, and then I kind of burned the tires up trying to get down. It was a track position race all night. You needed to stay in the top three or four and I felt like took off really well. The car had great speed and it was doing everything I needed it to, but you can’t make mistakes like that. I’m not sure what happened on the communication side there, but it didn’t get relayed to me fast enough that we were coming to the choice. I hate that, but still a great way to start the year. We had a lot of speed in our Smithfield Ford Mustang and led some laps in the big show, but once you get in the back it turns into bumper cars. It is what it is. We’ll go to Daytona.”
Race Notes:
● Martin Truex Jr., won the Busch Light Clash by .786 of a second over runner-up Austin Dillon. Kyle Busch rounded out the podium.
● All but five of the 27 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
● The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum kicked off its milestone 100th anniversary with the Busch Light Clash.
Next Up:
The official start of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season begins with Daytona Speedweek Feb. 15-19 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway. Daytona 500 qualifying takes place at 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Feb. 15 with live coverage on FS1 and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Only the top-two positions will be locked into the 65th Daytona 500. The rest of the field will earn their respective starting positions in the Bluegreen Vacations Duel – twin 150-mile heat races that set the rest of the Daytona 500 field. The Duel gets underway at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 16 with live coverage on FS1 and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Daytona Speedweek then culminates with the Daytona 500 at 2:30 p.m. on Feb. 19 with live coverage provided by FOX and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
