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NASCAR moves 2022 Clash to LA Memorial Coliseum

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emailBy Kelly Crandall | September 14, 2021 7:21 PM ET

NASCAR will head back to Southern California early next year with an exhibition race held at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

The NASCAR Clash will move from Daytona Beach, Florida, to the Coliseum on February 6, 2022. Officials will construct a temporary quarter-mile asphalt short track inside the home to the USC Trojans football team.

It will be the first time since 1979 the Clash has not been held at Daytona. The race date is one week before the NFL’s Super Bowl, and two weeks before the season-opening Daytona 500 (Feb. 20).
History meets possibility.

See you in 2022, Los Angeles. pic.twitter.com/SAKJ5kiMqM

— NASCAR (@NASCAR)

“Los Angeles is synonymous with major sports and entertainment events, so we seized an innovative opportunity to showcase NASCAR at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum,” said Ben Kennedy, NASCAR senior vice president of strategy and innovation. “We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to take center stage in this market as we get our 2022 season underway.”

Next Gen cars will be used in the race, marking the new cars’ first competitive outing.

The stadium seats 77,500 fans. Tickets go on sale on Sept. 16.

The remainder of the 2022 Cup Series schedule is expected to be announced on Wednesday.

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NASCAR's L.A. Coliseum move is already a winner – Harvick

Gavin Baker/Motorsport Images
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emailBy Kelly Crandall | February 5, 2022 11:39 PM ET

NASCAR racing at the L.A. Coliseum became a reality Saturday with cars getting on track for the first time in practice and qualifying ahead of the Busch Light Clash. The purpose-built quarter-mile inside the stadium that houses the USC Trojans football team received a ringing endorsement from many drivers, who were blown away by construction and acknowledged they were enjoying the moment.

Former Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick took it one step forward. Despite the big show still yet to be run, Harvick felt NASCAR’s gamble on doing something different with the Clash had paid off.

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Busch tops single-car qualifying for Busch Light Clash at L.A. Coliseum

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Elliott leads Clash practice at L.A. Coliseum

“I don’t think you can screw it up at this point,” he said. “The event is here. The racetrack didn’t fly up. Practice went good. The cars all made the corners. People were passing each other, and as our good friend, Jim Hunter (former NASCAR executive), would say, ‘You have to have cars that pass, Kevin’ to make a good race.

“When you look at everything that has happened, the amount of tickets and media passes and all the things – you can’t screw it up at this point. That’s my opinion.”

The main event will be set after four heat races and two last-chance qualifying races. Only 23 of the 36 drivers who entered the Busch Light Clash will make the main show.

“The race doesn’t even matter,” said Harvick.

While L.A. Coliseum can hold over 78,000 fans for an event, at most, there will be 60,000 in attendance Sunday for racing. With how the track was built, viewing and safety led to officials deciding to cover the lower level of seats with advertising banners. Of the fans who do attend, NASCAR has promoted that 70 percent have never previously attended a race.

Sunday marks the first time since 1979 that NASCAR’s annual exhibition race has been held somewhere other than Daytona Beach. It was taken to a market NASCAR President Steve Phelps has repeatedly said is important to the sport, and with all the entertainment aspects built around the race, they hope to capitalize on with a long-term gain.

For Harvick, what NASCAR has done with the Busch Light Clash should lead to trying other new things. Harvick mentioned how the NFL plays in London and that the iconic Wembley Stadium could be a fun venue. He also pointed at the All-Star Race needing something fresh instead of it being held on an intermediate track that can be seen many times during the season.

“I would move it all over the place,” Harvick said of the Busch Light Clash. “If this goes like everyone thinks it will, it will just blow the doors open to opportunities, and I would take them.”

Sunday will be the culmination of a gamble by NASCAR and a lot of work by everyone in the industry to make it happen, but it seems it won’t be the racing that has a lasting impact.

“I think you have a kickoff leading into Daytona that you haven’t ever really had before with everything this weekend,” Harvick said. “I think this will make that bigger than it was. The new car will make that bigger than it was. You see the reflection in ticket sales that come with the enthusiasm from the race fans, and I think that is only going to grow as we get done here.”

Busch Light Clash, LA Coliseum, NASCAR

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INTERVIEW: Stenhouse on the Battle of Los Angeles

Nigel Kinrade/Motorsport Images
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emailBy Eric Johnson | February 5, 2022 7:00 PM ET

Sunday night’s Busch Light Clash will be something of an anomaly for NASCAR when it runs on a quarter-mile racetrack graced with 2.5-degree turns. “It’s like flying jet fighters in a gymnasium,” Dick Trickle once proclaimed of NASCAR short track racing, and that’s very much like what reality will be like tomorrow night when the stars of the NASCAR Cup Series cross swords in a venue which opened for worldwide sporting business in 1932 by hosting the Olympic Games.

In their new Next Gen cars, NASCAR’s elite Cup drivers will open up the 2022 racing season on one of the most creative racing circuits the sport has ever seen. After climbing out of his No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Food 4 Less/Slim Jim Camaro ZL1 at the conclusion of practice, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. had some interesting things to say about it all…

What a sight it was out there, Ricky! What do you think of it?

Yeah, man, it’s really kind of cool! It’s a lot different than I thought it was going to be. I definitely had some simulator team beforehand. I felt good on that. It’s been kind of crazy because a lot of the adjustments that we’ve made, we started out here in a pretty similar way to how we were at the simulator. That’s cool. We still have some things to work on. I felt like we were good, smooth and consistent. We need to learn how to bust off a little bit faster lap, but the times are so tight. But we were out there and passing cars and I felt like it’s going to race pretty good. The fans are definitely going to love it. It’s going to be a really good race, I think.

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Elliott leads Clash practice at L.A. Coliseum

What’s it like in terms of shifting and braking?

It’s pretty cool. We’re running in second gear and we’ve got five gears, so we’re leaving it in second and just rolling with that, but the surface is super-smooth. The surface has more grip than I thought it was going to be. Normally, with newer paved racetracks it takes a while to get grip built into them, but I feel like they dd a really good job here and everything seems to be OK right now. You’re definitely going to want to be on the bottom here; we’re kind of short-cutting the corners as much as we can. The bottom groove is definitely the fastest, but I think you’ll see some good two-by-two, side-by-side racing. I have to say that it’s just cool driving down through the tunnel here at the Coliseum and driving out into the stadium. I could see the big pillars down there at the other end. It’s a cool scene being here.
Not your average entrance to the track. @KevinHarvick x @lacoliseum pic.twitter.com/WeoSCl41nj

— NASCAR (@NASCAR)

Does the rear of the car want to break traction? Are you put in a position to be really delicate with throttle control?

You definitely do. The biggest thing with that is the way the rear grips, I actually tried to release the brake and roll corner speed as fast as I can. That’s where I’m losing my rear grip. My drive-off on throttle is still pretty good, but you’re definitely easing into the throttle. You’re not jumping right back into it, so we’ve still got some work to do on our rear grip.

Does this Coliseum tack remind you of anything you have raced on before?

It’s kind of similar to Martinsville. The straightaways are long and you’ve got to use the brakes a lot. You actually don’t use the brakes as much as Martinsville because you don’t want to drive that deep into the corners; you’re kind of easing in there a little bit. The corners here are definitely tighter than Martinsville, but the straightaway is actually pretty long here. The straightaways here are also curved, so you’re kind of turning down into the corner on a radius. Then you get to the exit of the corner and you get a little bit tighter there.

How was it with other cars around you? Is it claustrophobic?

It actually feels like you have more room that I thought we would have! We’ve had 12 cars out on the racetrack at a time and it felt pretty good with all of it. Qualifying is going to be important here and will help when it comes time for the heat races. But cars have definitely been making passes and there is definitely room for opportunity to move up through the field.

Man, you sound real pumped on everything!

I am. I think probably everybody is pretty excited about being here. It’s just a totally different atmosphere than what we’re used to. Driving down into the track is really neat. I’ve been looking around at the seats everywhere and knowing that they’re going to be filled up tomorrow and knowing that we’ve been out on the track and made passes has been excellent. It hasn’t been hard to pass here and it hasn’t been follow-the-leader — I guess you could say it has been pretty racy. I think everybody is happy about that.

What’s the feeling among the other drivers?

We all walked the track this morning and everybody was anxious to get out there and see what it was going to be like. I haven’t talked to many after practice yet. That was a super-fast practice session that we ran. I’m sure everybody will get together between now and qualifying and talk about it all.

It’s history, huh?

It is. It’s something that NASCAR has never done before. They’ve done a really good job building the track and they’ve put a lot of money and effort into it, so now it’s our turn to go out and make sure we put on a good show.

LA Coliseum, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Cup Series, NASCAR

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Joey Logano holds off Kyle Busch, wins inaugural Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum

By Reid Spencer NASCAR Wire Service February 6, 2022 at 8:06 PMLOS ANGELES — At the end of a transformative NASCAR experience that took the City of Angels by storm, Joey Logano held off hard-charging pole winner Kyle Busch to triumph in Sunday’s Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum.

Logano got the lead on Lap 116, moments before Kyle Larson retaliated against Justin Haley for earlier contact that was not of Haley’s doing. Larson steered toward the bottom of the track, knocking Haley’s Chevrolet into the concrete Jersey barrier on the front stretch.

In the competitive debut of the Next Gen race car, Logano had control of the race for the restart on Lap 117 and held the top spot to the finish, with Busch frustrated in pursuit on the quarter-mile track built for the NASCAR Cup Series event in iconic Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum as part of NASCAR’s daring foray into downtown LA.

RELATED: Official race results | Images from the Coliseum

“I can’t believe it,” Logano exulted after the race. “We’re here. The LA Coliseum. We got the victory with the old Shell/Pennzoil Mustang. This is an amazing event. Congratulations, NASCAR. Such a huge step in our industry to be able to do this, put on an amazing race for everybody.

“I’m out of breath. I was so excited about this. This is a big win. My wife is having a baby tomorrow, our third one, so a pretty big weekend for us.”

It was an exhibition race — but what an exhibition. Rapper Pitbull, who co-owns Trackhouse Racing with Justin Marks, warmed up the crowd with a 45-minute set before the green flag. At the halfway break in the 150-lap event, crews changed tires and made adjustments to the Next Gen cars as rapper Ice Cube filled the Coliseum with a performance of his own.

A pantheon of California sports stars — among them former University of Southern California tailback Reggie Bush and LA Dodgers manager Dave Roberts — joined NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon in a corps of grand marshals and shouted the command to start engines.

The race itself crystallized into a battle among Logano, Busch, Larson and Austin Dillon. After the final restart, Larson briefly took second from Busch, who regained the spot with more than 20 laps left and charged after Logano.

“I was being perfect doing everything I needed to do — keep the tires underneath me,” said Busch, who led a race-high 64 laps. “When I got close, I was like, ‘OK, I’ve got to try more and pounce at an opportunity,’ and just overheated the tires and smoked them in three laps and that was it. Disappointing, obviously.

“Come out here and win the pole, and lead laps, run up front. The finish goes green and it’s not chaotic and we can’t win, so it sucks. Congratulations to my son (Brexton Busch) – he won yesterday. That’s cool. I was trying to match him. He’s winning more than me these days, so somebody better send him a contract.”

Dillon passed Larson to finish third, and Erik Jones ran fourth after overtaking the reigning Cup Series champion in the closing laps. Larson held fifth, as William Byron, Cole Custer, Christopher Bell, AJ Allmendinger and Kevin Harvick completed the top 10.

Busch earned the pole position for the main event with a wire-to-wire victory in Sunday’s first heat race, with Daniel Suarez, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Ryan Blaney joining him in the Clash as the second-, third- and fourth-place finishers.

Blaney used his bumper to shove past Denny Hamlin to claim the final transfer spot from the opening heat.

In fact, drivers who started first won all four heat races, with no one else leading a lap. Tyler Reddick dominated Heat 2 — winning by a full straightaway — as Chase Briscoe, Dillon and Custer qualified behind him.

Driving for Kaulig Racing’s newly minted NASCAR Cup Series team, Haley took the third heat, with Byron, Bell and Chase Elliott joining him in the main event. In Heat 4, Logano and Larson ran 1-2, with defending Daytona 500 winner Michael McDowell and Jones taking the final two transfer positions.

Hamlin made the Clash by winning the first of two Last Chance Qualifiers, with Harvick and Allmendinger finishing second and third to advance.

If the first LCQ was relatively tame by short-track standards, the second was utter chaos. After hitting everything but the lottery, as FOX broadcaster Mike Joy put it, Ty Dillon took the checkered flag but was demoted to the rear for jumping the final restart with three of the 50 laps left.

That gave Ryan Preece the race win and the final two transfer spots to Bubba Wallace and Harrison Burton, who was spun while leading on Lap 47.

The second LCQ featured seven cautions and saw strong contenders Kurt Busch and Alex Bowman eliminated when their cars sustained irreparable damage.

Sunday’s Clash exhibition race was a historic day for the sport, marking the first time the event was held outside of Daytona International Speedway. The LA Memorial Coliseum, home to the USC Trojans, was transformed from grass to a 0.25-mile asphalt circuit.

Post-race technical inspection is complete in the Cup garage, confirming Logano as the race winner.

The NASCAR Cup Series will return to action Feb. 15-20 at Daytona.

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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images

Surreal to real: A Clash like no other makes history in Los Angeles

By
Zack Albert NASCAR.com February 6, 2022 at 11:41 PMLOS ANGELES – History seemingly happens only so rarely, but Los Angeles makes it a regular thing. The Super Bowl comes to town next week, a big deal the city has rallied around in the days-long run-up. Still, it has happened here seven times before.

NASCAR within the city limits, though, and in one of the crown-jewel settings – had never happened. Ten-years-ago NASCAR fan you would’ve told present-day you it never would. A mid-race break for an Ice Cube concert? Absolutely not. A quarter-mile track inside an Olympic-quality venue with a century of history? Saywhatnow.

Sunday, those things happened in the Busch Light Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, stirring up a buzzy Super Bowl atmosphere in a previously untapped part of town in front of a host of first-time attendees.

RELATED: At-track photos: LA Coliseum | Logano rules Clash

Nearly every logistical challenge the event may have posed was met. The Clash entered the realm of the trending on social media, with new eyeballs seeing the sport for the first time. And Kyle Busch and Austin Dillon, who may have had reason to be disappointed in finishing 2-3 behind race winner Joey Logano, capped the day with high-fives for NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer Steve O’Donnell outside the locker room-turned-press room.

“I think it goes back to what I said, people having fun, getting back to going out there and racing. Today was what we’re all about, really the whole weekend,” O’Donnell said. “If you look at what the drivers have done for the sport over the offseason, really getting out there and help promoting us, this is a big market for us. It was important for us to come out here and look like we’re having fun, even if we weren’t. That wasn’t the case. I think everybody was really enthusiastic, ready to go, they wanted to win this race. I think that showed.

“High-fiving us is more we’re doing the same because they delivered, put on a great race for us.”

That started in the preliminaries, and the use of heats and last-chance qualifiers seemed tailor-made for this year’s version of the Clash. Several big names came perilously close to missing the feature, and former champs Kurt Busch and Brad Keselowski were among those going home early. The tempers, fender-fraying and roughhousing that was semi-expected came to be, and the new Cup Series car that made its competition debut along with the track took its share of lumps.
Jared C. Tilton | Getty ImagesA host of California legends from all walks of sports made for an impressive list of grand marshals, and Vallejo’s own Jeff Gordon was front and center among them, lighting the Olympic flame, giving the command.

“To see the excitement and energy of the crowd, I mean that’s what NASCAR racing and great events are all about,” Gordon, now Hendrick Motorsports’ vice chairman, told NASCAR.com. “I thought top to bottom, NASCAR, everybody at the stadium, FOX just did a fantastic job. We were entertained – it wasn’t just about a race, it was about the whole experience. So I’m very pleased. I know we didn’t have the best result, but the racing was good.

“I was concerned coming here of what were we going to see on track. I felt like if we had a bunch of fans, we could entertain them with Ice Cube and Pitbull and all that, the DJ, but what were we going to see on track. I thought we saw a great race, all through the day – bumping and banging and passing.”

The main event’s finish may not have had the same slam-bang result as the qualifiers, but it had all the anticipation as Logano’s No. 22 Ford ran for its life with rival Kyle Busch in hot pursuit. A Turn 4 villainy not seen here since Zola Budd tripped Mary Decker at the 1984 Games was avoided, and the potential powder keg was defused. After the victory burnouts while Randy Newman’s “I Love LA” blared, Logano’s car rolled harmlessly back to the garage, where even those who placed among the also-rans were soaking in the back end of the day’s vibe.

“I feel like I came in with pretty high expectations, and I think everything was just a little bit better,” said defending Cup Series champ Kyle Larson, who finished fifth. “I think the atmosphere was amazing, just everything about it was really cool. … I hope we can do more of this in the future. I don’t know what the fans think of it, the new fans that are here, but I hope they enjoyed it. That’s the most important part. Just really proud of NASCAR for the effort they put it and what they were able to execute. I felt like this was a really smoothly run event, no real hiccups at all and that’s all you can ask for.”

Ah, the future. The pavement had barely cooled before crews began to deconstruct the track, and the temporary barriers that formed the inner retaining wall were all neatly stacked by the time most Angelenos were done with dinner. Just as quickly as the dream was built, it was being taken apart.

By no means was this easy, but before the weekend was even in full swing, talk centered around potentially doing it again. Ben Kennedy, NASCAR’s senior vice president of strategy and innovation, had made this event his team’s touchstone. Taking it on the road to new venues – Soldier Field, Wembley Stadium, other international locales – that avenue is now wide open.

“It’s something that I think we’ll certainly look at,” Kennedy said. “Los Angeles, as we’ve mentioned from the start, is really an important market for us. … The Coliseum, USC, have been tremendous partners. That will be certainly an important part as we think about this. But to your point, too, if we can prove this out, a proof of concept, it does open the door to other locations in the future.”

MORE: Clash race results | Busch winds up second

Kennedy said those decisions would likely come sooner than later regarding a potential renewal, but for the time being, the 29-year-old executive was content to share some of the accolades from making the surreal become real, at somehow managing to pull all this off.

The year’s more traditional start comes in two weeks with the season-opening Daytona 500 on Feb. 20 (2:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM). That event has traditionally drawn comparisons as NASCAR’s Super Bowl. That type of atmosphere has already happened once this month, complete with a halftime show.

“This is LA, this is a tough market to really make a splash, but it is a great location and venue,” Gordon said, hinting at the possibilities that could emerge. “The weather is right for the winter, you’ve got an iconic, historic venue and location, so what else is out there? I do think there’s some places that if you could put a track in, I think they would draw a great crowd. I think what we can recreate now is you realize, when the cautions come out, you can pump music in, get the crowd involved, you can have a halftime and have somebody come out and put on a concert or whatever.

“I think there’s a lot that was learned from it — all positive. Great way to kick off the season.”

Making history repeat is an LA-centric phenomenon. Sunday may mark the start of it being NASCAR’s calling card, too.

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v8srule Mark Z. All the other current short tracks on the schedule come to mind. If they did concerts in the middle of the track during a forced "half time", then yeah, that would be odd, right? Not the track, its the oddity of the whole venue. And, with all of what NASCAR did with this, was the racing better? I think the answer to that is no, it wasn't.

We get better racing from all the current short tracks than this one turned out to be. So, it seems very odd to go and do this type of event where they decided to do it. And, if you read the article, it appears this might become something they will do more of, where they go off and build a temp track someplace and then make the racing an after thought of the event in deference to the other activities. Have to wait and see.

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Logano outruns Kyle Busch for Clash win

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emailBy Kelly Crandall | February 6, 2022 8:37 PM ET

Joey Logano held off Kyle Busch to claim the win in the inaugural Busch Light Clash at the L.A. Coliseum and the debut race of the Next Gen race car.

Logano led the final 35 laps. He and Busch were battling for the race lead when the final caution flew on lap 116, with Logano deemed the leader. Once the race restarted, Logano ran smoothly to the end while Busch used up his tires trying to mount a challenge.

Logano and Busch had driven away from third place Austin Dillon over the final laps to decide the race win between them. Logano led 35 laps en route to his second Clash win.

“I can’t believe it; we’re here,” Logano said. “The L.A. Coliseum. We got the victory with the old Shell/Pennzoil Mustang. This is an amazing event. Congratulations, NASCAR. Such a huge step in our industry to be able to do this, put on an amazing race for everybody.

“I’m out of breath. I was so excited about this. This is a big win. My wife is having a baby tomorrow, our third one, so a pretty big weekend for us.”

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CRANDALL: A cultural mashup Clash pays off

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Kurt Busch among those sidelined by messy LCQ heat

Busch started from the pole and led a race-high 64 laps.

“I was being perfect doing everything I needed to do — keep the tires underneath me,” Busch said. “When I got close, I was like, OK, I’ve got to try more and pounce at an opportunity and just overheated the tires and smoked them in three laps, and that was it. Disappointing, obviously, (to) come out here and win the pole, and lead laps, run upfront.

“The finish goes green, and it’s not chaotic, and we can’t win, so it sucks. Congratulations to my son (Brexton Busch) — he won yesterday. That’s cool. I was trying to match him. He’s winning more than me these days, so somebody better send him a contract.”

Dillon finished third ahead of Erik Jones in fourth, and Kyle Larson completed the top five. William Byron finished sixth, Cole Custer was seventh, and Christopher Bell finished eighth. A.J. Allmendinger finished ninth, and Kevin Harvick rounded out the top 10.

The 150-lap event went green to the checkered flag and was a relatively clean race. While there were five caution flags, two were for accidents from contact, and a third was for a single-car spin.

Tyler Reddick was quick from the drop of the green flag. Reddick started second and led 51 laps, but his race ended because of a mechanical failure. Under the first caution on lap 53, Reddick stopped on the frontstretch and needed to be pushed into the infield.

Three drivers, including Reddick, were knocked out of the race at the first caution. Denny Hamlin was the first to pull off the track because of a broken power steering belt. Chase Briscoe then came to a stop and needed to be pushed into the infield before Reddick also retired.

Elliott spun on lap 66. Over his team radio, the former series champion said that he was locking the front tire up and then got high and free into Turn 4 and spun.

Busch led the way over Logano, Justin Haley, and William Byron at the halftime caution.

Ryan Blaney slowed on lap 116 to bring out a caution. Unhappy with contact from Erik Jones that damaged the rear suspension and sent him behind the wall, Blaney threw his HANS device at Jones as he drove by under caution.
"Yeah, I was mad!" @Blaney is not happy with @Erik_Jones! pic.twitter.com/XSbsxrX8ev

— NASCAR (@NASCAR)

“He wants to destroy me for seventh — don’t really make no sense,” said Blaney, who did return to the race. “I don’t know. Just kind of riding around and just ran into the back of me and killed our car. Yeah, I was mad. But you’ll have that.”

The final caution was the result of Justin Haley and Kyle Larson colliding. Haley was to the inside of Larson and was shoved into the inside wall, which destroyed the left front of his race car.
This is how @Justin_Haley_'s day came to an early end. pic.twitter.com/ZdT1QL8xkB

— NASCAR (@NASCAR)

Logano chose the inside lane for the final restart with Larson outside. Busch restarted third.

There were five cautions in the Busch Light Clash, but caution laps did not count. There were five lead changes among three drivers.

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