NfJJ's Busch Clash Newsletter |
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Truex on Top at the Clash |
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Martin Truex Jr. wins the Busch Clash after cruising by Ryan Preece with 25 laps to go. It was evident that Truex would be fast in the main show, and ran in the top five nearly the entire race. Outside of the grueling 25 caution flags, the Clash delivered exactly what it needed to: High tempers, a lot of contact, exciting heat races, and even the return of Chastain vs. Hamlin. It was a great Sunday of racing for many of the new marriages: Kyle Busch and RCR, Tyler Reddick and 23XI, and Ryan Preece and SHR. They all showed great speed. What an interesting opening weekend. |
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I thought the racing was about as good as we could have expected in the heat races and the first half of the feature. I'm not a fan of all the extracurriculars such as the comedian doing driver intros or Gwen Stefani in the booth. I am all for doing experimental things to make the at track experience more exciting, but from home, I'd rather just consume the race. There were just so many cautions after the halfway break. It took away pretty much all of the enjoyment that I had in the first half of the race. 25 cautions is just ridiculous. This was some of the best short track racing with the Next Gen cars, so it is unfortunate there were so many yellows. |
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There is still no respect on the race track. Time to move the Clash? RCR takes a big step forward. Gragson vs. Ty Gibbs in the rookie battle is going to be a lot closer than expected.
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I wanted this section to highlight drivers that had good "under the radar" runs. However, how can Ryan Preece not be the first Driver Spotlight of 2023? He made some great moves on restarts to get to the front, and nearly won the thing (If it wasn't for a mechanical issue, he probably would have won). Sure, his experience in modifieds definitely gave him some sort of advantage, but these other guys have much more experience in the Next Gen car. I'm sure Tony Stewart was happy about his run. |
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Looking Out the Front Windshield: Daytona 500 Preview |
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Well, there is not a lot that applies from the smallest track on the schedule to the second largest. However, there were not too many surprises in the Clash. This leads me to believe we will be seeing similar players in this year's Daytona 500 as last year. Anyways, there will be a much more in depth preview next weekend so stay tuned. |
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| | RCR Kyle Busch showed a lot of speed in his debut for RCR. After an early spin in the feature, he came back to finish on the podium right behind teammate Austin Dillon. Austin showed a lot of speed- there have not been many races in Austin's career that he ran in the top 5 during the entirety of a race. This speed should be encouraging for all RCR fans. |
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| | Harrison Burton Harrison Burton failed to advance through the heats, but had a chance to make it to the big show through the LCQ. However, a late race mistake took him out of contention. This is definitely a huge step back after making the show and finishing 12th last year in his rookie season. |
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| | Martin Truex Jr. After a winless 2022, Truex came out and had a near perfect weekend. There weren't any major mistakes, and he was competitive all day long- not something he can say about many races last season. Martin may definitely get hot, especially after taking his first win in the Next Gen car.. |
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Our recent blog post goes into the Clash just a little more in depth. Make sure to check it out! | | |
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Another Monday calls for another new video! For this video, we are diving into the story of Deborah Renshaw, and how she was blamed for the death of Eric Martin 20 years after the fact. Make sure to watch to find out why I think this is totally unfair and to see where the blame really goes. | | |
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