Surgically repaired shoulder and all, Denny Hamlin scored the pole and then took the first checkered flag and trophy of the NASCAR Cup Series season in the non-points Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
The crowd booed and Hamlin recited his favorite go-to rebuttal for the second time since the Bristol Night Race last summer.
“You know I beat your favorite driver again, right,” he said to even louder boos.
Hamlin led a total of 58 laps but fell outside of the top-five by the halfway break. His Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Ty Gibbs took the lead a few restarts into the second half and would lead a race high 84 laps but lost the lead on the final restart when he and Joey Logano traded paint and allowed Hamlin to slip by.
“A lot of it was what happened in front of me with the 54 and 22 and you just never know what will happen there,” Hamlin said. “But I got a really good run out of Turn 2 but we got position and can hang on from there.
“The racing and restart is so chaotic but really happy to win in LA.”
Kyle Busch and Ryan Blaney completed the podium, the latter was a remarkable accomplishment, given that the reigning champion drove all the way to third from the rear of the field after making the field only via a provisional.
“I felt like the first half (of the race), I had a better car, better than the 11 (Hamlin), but some of the adjustments we made weren’t as good, some of the adjustments they made were better,” said Busch, who has finished second, third and second in the three events at the Coliseum.
“All in all, just glad to have a good night. Glad to come out of here in one piece with all the bumping and banging and everything else that happens.”
Gibbs got spun late in the race and finished 18th. He was confronted by Logano after the race and it did not end on a positive note.
They weren’t the only ones involved in some short track dramatics. Kyle Larson retaliated on Bubba Wallace on the final lap of regulation and Ross Chastain retaliated on Tyler Reddick after the checkered flag.
The race was originally scheduled for Sunday but was moved up due to the threat of a historic storm that will hit the Los Angeles region overnight and remain over the region throughout the next week.
The Cup Series regular season will begin on Sunday, February 18 with the Daytona 500 at 2:30 ET on FOX following a full week of qualifying, qualifying races and the season openers for the Truck Series and Xfinity Series.
- Denny Hamlin
- Kyle Busch
- Ryan Blaney
- Joey Logano
- Kyle Larson
- Alex Bowman
- Chase Briscoe
- Brad Keselowski
- Martin Truex, Jr.
- William Byron
- Ryan Preece
- Bubba Wallace
- John Hunter Nemechek
- Tyler Reddick
- Ross Chastain
- Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.
- Corey LaJoie
- Ty Gibbs
- Michael McDowell
- Noah Gragson
- Justin Haley
- Chase Elliott
- Todd Gilliland
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.