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Kyle Busch took a dramatic pre-season victory in the Busch Clash on Tuesday night, avoiding an accident between frontrunners Ryan Blaney and Chase Elliott to kick off the NASCAR Cup season with the annual exhibit taking place for the first time was held on the Daytona International Speedway. course.
Busch led only the last of 35 laps in No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota and won the Clash for the second time. The exhibition race achieved its first victory with Ben Beshore, new crew chief.
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Defending Cup Series champion Elliott finished second and chased away from contact with Blaney in the final chicane. Joey Logano finishes third with Tyler Reddick and William Byron finishing the top five in order.
“I felt quite like there was an interesting opportunity to develop there,” Busch said of the situation in Blaney-Elliott. “When it started happening, I hoped that they would perish long enough so that I could get up there and reach out to them and win the thing. It’s never over before it’s over in this kind of thing. ”
Elliott fell behind for the start due to the unapproved adjustments to his 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. He triumphed in the series’ only other appearance on the Daytona track at 3.61 miles and last August won a points payout on the track as part of his current four-win series on road tracks.
Elliott was strong again, leading four laps and chasing Blaney for the win during the final track. But the two cars made contact and Blaney sustained the biggest damage to the outside screen.
The race was not segmented into shifts, but a warning for the competition after the 15th lap divided the race into two parts. Kevin Harvick spun twice in the opening section and walked his number 4 Ford into the bus stop, after some dirt was kicked up on the race surface. His second off-road outing took place after a messy restart, complicated by Blaney’s attempt to rejoin the racetrack after exceeding Turn 1.
Martin Truex Jr. led on two occasions, but each time had problems shortly after being to the front. He was the frontrunner in the competition warning break, but he skipped the last sican of the track during the warning period while looking for the pass car to pick up the field. Sy nr. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota started the race again at the back of the pack after the penalty kick. “I do not know why I did it,” Truex said. “Terrible work, sorry.”
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He was apologetic again after crashing into the outer wall while coming out of the other hurricane and sustaining heavy damage. He finishes 20th in the 21-car field.
All of the previous 42 issues of the non-points event were presented at Daytona’s 2.5-mile oval.
COMMENT: 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota’s Kyle Busch passed the technical inspection on Tuesday after winning the NASCAR Cup Series’ Busch Clash at the Daytona International Speedway Road Course. The no. 2-team, Penske Ford of Brad Keselowski, who finished 17th, had one rope that was not safe.
Contributing: NASCAR Wire Service