No problem, big or small, stopped Martin Truex Jr. and James Small from returning to their winning ways. (Photo: Christopher Vargas | The Podium Finish)
LOS ANGELES – After a frustrating, winless season in 2022, Martin Truex Jr. returned to his victorious form at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Sunday night.
While Sunday night’s Busch Light Clash did not count as a points paying win, it was a reminder that the 2017 NASCAR Cup Series champion can still drive his way to the winner’s circle.
For a driver who endured through an onslaught of heartbreaks last year, one would think that Truex and his No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry team would have changed their approach.
In this case, Truex’s answer may be a bit surprising.
“Racing is funny. We didn’t really change anything, the way we do stuff,” Truex said. “We just tried to focus and buckle down and say, OK, these are things we’ve got to look at and work on, and that’s what we did, and we had a little fortune.”
Much like last year, Truex and crew chief James Small set their sights on a car that was fast and consistent in a long run. Their modus operandi was in full force on Saturday with a car that seemed foolproof fast.
However, colder conditions at nightfall relegated Truex to the 22nd fastest overall time in Saturday night’s qualifying session, placing him in the sixth starting position in Sunday’s Heat No. 2 race.
Truex wasted little time in his march to the front as he battled Kyle Busch, his former Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, from Lap 17 to 19.
The more things change, the more they stay the same for Truex and the No. 19 team. (Photo: Luis Torres | The Podium Finish)
Once Truex got past Busch on Lap 20, it was smooth sailing to a Heat Race No. 2 win and the second starting position in the main event.
Sunday night’s Clash was a promising performance for Truex as he kept himself in contention for the win with his trademark maturity and poise.
Beyond those indelible intangibles, Truex turned to his experience from racing in the NASCAR Busch North Series.
“Yeah, we raced on a lot of tracks that there was a lot of beating and banging like that, especially for me up front on those restarts, you know, how many times we’d kind of go back and forth,” he said. “It definitely reminded me a lot of those short tracks back in those days.
“Not really taking each other out, just running hard, rubbing a lot, and kind of getting out of shape. It was a ton of fun.”
Suffice to say, in spite of the bullrings that are in the Northeast region, the mild mannered racer never imagined a race of such length and unusual absurdities.
“Yeah, it was funny. After Victory Lane, I was like, I’ve raced a lot of races that are 150 laps, because most of our races back then were 150s, and I don’t ever remember one taking that long,” he said. “That felt like a 400-mile race. It was forever and ever, caution, caution, caution.”
The path to a Busch Light Clash victory seemed to be forever and ever for Truex given the onslaught of accidents and exasperating moments last year.
All told, Truex’s bid for a return Victory Lane trip was well worth the wait. With 25 laps left in the Clash, Truex, who worked his way back up to second place, scooted past Ryan Preece.
This time, there were no late race gremlins that would snatch Truex from standing atop the podium.
Instead, the Mayetta, Stafford Township, New Jersey native returned to his winning ways, at least, in an unofficial way.
By all means, Truex knows his way around the Coliseum but he’s not so sure about taking on the traffic in LA.
“LA traffic is no problem. It’s just like Jersey traffic,” he quipped. “But I hate traffic. Hate all of it.
“If I see it, I’m like, oh, this sucks. Just want to hide, pull off the road, drive through them.”
