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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla .– Kyle Busch notched the first win of the new season, beating NASCAR champion Chase Elliott after Elliott spun frontman Ryan Blaney down the home stretch of the Busch Clash show.
Blaney chased Elliott down the road course at Daytona International Speedway to take the lead with two laps remaining in the Speedweeks’ 35-lap opener on Tuesday night. Elliott, winner of the last four NASCAR road races dating back to 2019, didn’t let Blaney walk away and braced for one last chance to win.
He stalked Blaney through the chicane heading towards the final push of Turn 4, and as Elliott moved closer to his bumper the two made contact and Blaney rolled back against the wall. It cost Elliott his momentum and Busch sailed for the surprise victory.
“I just knew you had to keep your head down and stay focused and see if I could hit my marks to have a hit like that if something like that was to come through,” Busch said.
Busch only led the last 300 meters of the race for the victory for Joe Gibbs Racing. It comes after a disappointing season in a win for the 2019 NASCAR champion. The lack of success led to an off-season reshuffle with his No. 18 Toyota team.
For Busch, the victory comes after a disappointing season to a victory for the 2019 NASCAR champion. He struggled in the second half of the season, failed to advance to the final four rounds of the championship for the first times since 2014 and its Toyota No.18 crew has been overhauled during the winter.
Gibbs made so many changes to Busch’s crew he joked that he felt like he was fired and moved on to a new ride.
“I’m not sure we’re mature enough or ready enough to win as a group, but I think it’s a good start,” Busch said. “Winning never hurts, but there are things we can improve on a little bit, that we can grow on.”
Elliott was second and Blaney third. The two are close friends off the track and chatted in front of Blaney’s damaged race car after the finish.
“If I’m sorry I tried to win a race then I’m in the wrong job,” Elliott said. “Obviously, I don’t intend to destroy anyone. I feel like you have to go on an event like this.”
Blaney attributed it to a tough run in the first event since the November season finale.
“Of course he didn’t want to destroy me, but I ended up wrecked,” said Blaney. “I said to him, ‘If you’re going to make a move like that, you better make sure you win the race and don’t let the guy in third place win.’”
The Clash has always been the opening event for the Speedweeks, which traditionally runs two weekends before the opening of the Daytona 500 season. NASCAR this year is experimenting with a condensed schedule and all races span six days. and end with the big show on Sunday.
This year’s race was the first time on the Daytona road course, a plan announced ahead of the start of the 2020 season. NASCAR has gone from the traditional oval to answer fan calls for more variety on the schedule, and thought it would be a final race in the current car before the introduction of the Next Gen model.
But the Next Gen was delayed until 2022 due to the pandemic, and NASCAR used the Daytona road course in August of last year for a points-paying race when it had to change the schedule to complete the season. Elliott won the first Daytona road race.
The Clash was a lot smoother than last year’s race on the Daytona Oval, a crash festival in which every car was in at least one incident and only six cars were driven by the end. The race also had 12 lead changes, one less than the August race here which had 30 more laps.
NASCAR will perform the road course again on February 21 in a points paying event. The race was moved to Daytona due to pandemic restrictions in California, where NASCAR was scheduled to race at Fontana.
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