With a nudge, Truex got around then-leader Ryan Preece with 24 of the 150 laps remaining and managed to stay out front despite two late-race cautions and restarts.
This season’s Clash race was held on a ¼-mile made-from-scratch asphalt oval built inside the iconic coliseum for the second consecutive year.
Joey Logano won the inaugural event last year and ended up winning the series championship. Truex at one point was considering retirement last year but signed another one-year with JGR to remain in the No. 19 Toyota this season.
“Just a really good race car. The guys did a really good job,” Truex said. “Last year was a pretty rough season for us with no wins.
“To come here and kick it off this way, I’m just really proud of these guys. Tonight we just about persevere and not give up and just battle through. We found ourselves in the right spot in the end.
“Sometimes they work out your way and sometimes they don’t. Tonight, it went our way.”
Truex ended up clearing Dillon by 0.786 seconds for the victory. The race featured 16 cautions and caution laps did not count in the event.
Busch, Truex’s former teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing, finished third, Alex Bowman was fourth and Kyle Larson ended up fifth.
Completing the top-10 were Tyler Reddick, Ryan Preece, Ross Chastain, Denny Hamlin and William Byron.
Stage 2
Following the halftime break, the cars restarted in the position in which the first segment ended with Wallace out front, followed by Truex, Austin Dillon, Byron and Reddick.
Ty Gibbs went around in Turn 2 on Lap 77 to bring out a caution. When the race resumed on Lap 77, Bubba Wallace remained in the lead followed by Truex and Austin Dillon.
Both Kevin Harvick and Ryan Blaney spun in Turns 3 and 4 on Lap 79 to bring out the seventh caution of the race. The race resumed on Lap 79 with Wallace still in command.
Several cars, including Michael McDowell, Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney piled up on the backstretch on Lap 82 to bring out another caution. There was a brief red flag to clean up fluid from the track.
The race returned to green on Lap 82 with Wallace still in command.
Todd Gilliland spun in Turn 2 and stopped on the track before a green flag lap was completed. The race resumed on Lap 82 with Wallace still out front.
Preece powered around the outside of Wallace entering Turn 3 and grabbed the lead for the first time in the race.
Austin Cindric, Christopher Bell and A.J. Allmendinger got into each…
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