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Martin Truex Jr. explains run-in with Tony Stewart in Auto Club 400

Hollywood Casino 400 - Qualifying

Hollywood Casino 400 - Qualifying

NASCAR via Getty Images

Tony Stewart doesn’t like to be blocked.

The most notable example of Stewart expressing this sentiment was with Joey Logano at Auto Club Speedway in 2013.

Martin Truex Jr. is the latest, as seen seen in the video provided by NASCAR.com

NASCAR Illustrated spoke with Truex on Monday and got his side of the story, which started with the Furniture Row Racing driver frustrated with how Aric Almirola was racing him late in the event.

“I was on the outside of (Almirola) coming off of Turn 2, and I didn’t like what he did to me the lap before,’' Truex told NASCAR Illustrated. “I kind of side-drafted him a little bit.’'

“We got on the straightaway, and I was on the outside and of course, I’m going to run up near the wall down the backstretch. I saw Tony in the mirror kind of having a little bit of a run, and I was like, ‘I don’t think he’s coming that fast. I’m just going to move up and he’s just going to push me on by the No. 43 and we’ll go on. … ‘

“Then, wham, he slams into the back of me.”

The contact reportedly created a hole in the nose of Stewart’s car. In the video, Stewart, who finished 14th, takes issue with his car being damaged as a result of Truex’s on-track feud with Almirola.

“I was clear, we were on the straightaway,’' Truex said. “It wasn’t like I cut him off or anything. I just misjudged the run a little bit. And it just pissed him off. And he didn’t let off. He just slammed into me. The reason he was mad is that it knocked a hole in his nose.”

Truex, who finished eighth in the race, said he and Stewart have talked again since the race and are “all good.”

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