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LOS ANGELES -- Martin Truex Jr. showed that he's not quite ready to exit stage left with a late surge to win the second Busch Light Clash held at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

Last year, Truex had to take the provisional to make it into the feature of the inaugural race at the Coliseum, starting 23rd before settling for a 15th-place finish. That start ended up being a bad omen for the season to come where the 2017 series champion netted zero wins and missed the playoffs completely.

“We were just God-awful,” Truex said of last year’s event, “We barely made the race, just ran around the back and I spun out by myself on the last lap. It was so bad trying to pass one car.”

Saturday, the Toyota driver flipped the script and was fastest in practice before qualifying mid-pack, placing him sixth for his heat race. Truex's hopes were low going into today’s events.

“Last night I went to bed thinking today was going to suck, it was going to be a long day,” the New Jersey native quipped. "It was going to be hard to pass and we were starting sixth in our heat on the outside.

"Even if you finished fifth, you’re still going to suck in the race because you’re going to start 20th. So to be able to drive up through the field in the heat was a huge confidence builder.

“I knew after that if we could be smart tonight and stay up front we’d have a shot at it. It’s a big deal. All of these races are hard to win, whether there are points or not. So we’re proud of this one. It’s a big deal.”

Truex took the lead after Ryan Preece dominated coming off of the mid-race break. Truex would end up leading the final 25 laps and surviving multiple late-race cautions. After recording just five cautions in last year’s Clash, this year's feature would be strung out much further with 16 total cautions for the 150-lap event.

Truex was running up front early when Preece, the newest Stewart Haas Racing driver, powered to the front to lead 46 laps, the most of any driver.

Preece, like Truex, is going into the season with a lot to prove. He returned to the Cup Series this year after losing his ride for JTG Daugherty when the team went from two cars to just one car at the end of the 2021 season.

While viewers at home may’ve been surprised by Preece’s success given his time away from Cup competition, his fellow drivers were not.

“I'm not shocked at all, he's a great short track driver,” Truex said of Preece. “I’ve raced with him before and he’s in better equipment now than he’s probably ever been and I’m sure he’s got a really good team.”

A problem with his fuel pump made Preece lose the lead while he started to sink through the field like a rock before regaining speed and ultimately finishing in seventh place.

New teammates Kyle Busch and Austin Dillon would finish second and third to complete the first official podium ever -- complete with gold, silver and bronze medals, too -- in a NASCAR Cup race. The drivers showed instant chemistry and excitement in the season to come.

“We’ve been working well together this whole weekend, off the track, on the track, and having the opportunity of being able to take care of one another on a couple of those restarts, the 3 [Dillon] would be easy off the corner and give me a gap to be able to get down," Busch said. "It’s a good omen of great teamwork and good sportsmanship for the two of us. So let’s keep that rolling.”

Dillon agreed, adding how they can build off of each other’s setup and styles.

“I’ve watched Kyle’s data over the years and the way that he approaches the setup of a car,” Dillion commented, “I think we’re actually pretty close, our Delta will be close.

"It will be nice to build off of that and we’re going to be able to build off of that as we go and find those places that you know we have a good run and where do I need to be setup wise, compared to him to echo that.”

Hendrick teammates Alex Bowman and Kyle Larson would survive the myriad of restarts and late race attrition to round out the top five.

This article first appeared on FanNation Auto Racing Digest and was syndicated with permission.

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