February 5, 2023 | By Lee Spencer

Martin Truex Jr. survives crashfest to win first career Clash

Martin Truex Jr. didn’t know whether he wanted to race in 2023.

The former NASCAR Cup champion faced challenges on and off the track last season—including missing the Playoffs after his first winless season in eight years.

After scoring his first Busch Light Clash win on Sunday night, be assured the 42-year-old driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota is glad he stuck around.

“Oh man, it’s huge after last year,” Truex said of his victory in the LA Coliseum. “Going winless all year and having so many heartbreakers. Feel like we were doing some really good stuff. We just could never put it all together.

“Racing is a fickle business. Sometimes you don’t change anything and things turn around a little bit and you find yourself in Victory Lane. The Bass Pro Shops Club Camry was good all weekend. I was really nervous about qualifying last night. I went to bed thinking it was going to be a long day.”

Truex turned out to be the class of the field in the closing laps of the Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum. He finished 0.786 seconds ahead of Austin Dillon to claim victory and the gold medal. Kyle Busch, Alex Bowman and Kyle Larson rounded out the top five.

Truex posted the fastest lap in practice on Saturday but was 22nd in qualifying. His result left him starting sixth in Heat 2. In 25 laps, Truex rallied for the win—and a second-place starting position for the feature.

“To do what we were able to do in the heat race gave me a lot of confidence,” Truex said. "Then it was a battle all night. Tried to be smart. Tried to stay around the front—because you only have to lead the last one.”

Truex’s strategy paid off. He never ventured far from the front. And despite the rooting and gauging around him—which led to 16 cautions throughout the 150-lap race, Truex avoided altercations with his fellow drivers.

Aric Almirola led the first 16 laps but a miscommunication during the first caution lost him the inside lane and the lead. Denny Hamlin took the point on Lap 17 but was nudged out of the lead by Bubba Wallace on the Lap 43 restart. Ross Chastain nailed Hamlin 30 laps later. The driver of the No. 11 Toyota dropped to 22nd but recovered in the second half of the race.

Wallace retained the lead through the two-lap shootout to the halftime break on Lap 74. Austin Dillon crossed the line second followed by Truex, Tyler Reddick, William Byron, Ryan Preece, Kyle Busch, Bowman, Joey Logano, Larson and Chase Briscoe.

Before the race resumed to full song, 17th-place Ty Gibbs attempted to take out Harvick, but failed and lost six positions. A rash of cautions followed but Wallace maintained the lead through four yellows, but Preece, who restarted the second half seventh, was the first racer to make the outside lane work.

With 68 laps remaining, Preece cleared Wallace on the outside to take the lead. Bowman followed and Wallace fell to third with Truex and Dillon in tow. Three quick cautions followed. After a chain reaction shipped Ryan Blaney into the Turn 2 wall on Lap 113 to ignite caution 14, Truex was able to pass Bowman for second.

Truex moved to the inside of Preece to take the lead with 25 laps remaining. Five laps later, Preece reported an electrical issue and dropped to fifth.

“Preece was really strong,” Truex said. “He had some problems, obviously. Hate that for him. He’s a great kid, a great driver. Glad to see him in the Cup Series full-time. But we really needed this after last year. We really needed a shot in the arm—and this is a big one for us.”

Tyler Reddick, Preece, Ross Chastain, Kevin Harvick and Byron rounded out the top 10.

For the second consecutive season,  Kyle Busch and Austin Dillon returned to the podium at the Coliseum—this time as teammates. Busch was pleased with his Richard Childress Racing debut.

“Austin and I worked hard together today on, A, working together, but, B, all the information to put ourselves in the best possible spot,” said Busch, who rallied from the rear of the field after he was punted by Logano on Lap 86. “Good collaboration between the RCR bunch.”