(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography
By Aaron Bearden
After each NASCAR Cup Series race, Motorsports Beat will share a piece breaking down the stories and takeaways from the weekend. This is a report on the Busch Light Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
NASCAR Cup Series
Who Won?
Joey Logano. The 2018 NASCAR Cup Series champion got the better of Kyle Busch in a second-half battle to claim the first race of NASCAR’s Next Gen era.
Top Stories
Right place, right time
No one was entirely sure what to expect when NASCAR said that it was taking its traditional year-opening Cup Series exhibition race to the iconic Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
Traditionalists scoffed at the notion of moving the race from its lifelong home at Daytona International Speedway. Optimists looked toward the potential of tight short track racing on the temporary quarter-mile track, while pessimists noted the risk of torn up Next Gen cars and a potential flop in the coveted Los Angeles market.
But while some may not have liked the circumstances surrounding the race, it’s difficult to argue that it didn’t exceed most expectations heading into the show.
NASCAR took a big leap of faith in staging such a surreal event. Staging a race inside of a venue most known for football games is something usually only tours like Monster Energy Supercross or the one-off Race of Champions dare to attempt. To do so in a major market removed from most hardcore fans and make the event the coming out party for the Next Gen car only added to the risk.
Yet nearly everything went well in NASCAR’s ambitious debut.
The scene of the asphalt track inside of the picturesque LA Memorial Coliseum was equal parts surreal and extravagant, particularly when cars were on-track and the torch shining over the iconic venue was lit. From drivers and media to the fans in attendance themselves, there was a genuine sense of joy and wonder from all that saw the track in person.
Adding to the overall flair of the Clash were the celebrities and dignitaries present, headlined by a pre-race concert from musician and team owner Pitbull, along with a unique halftime set from rap legend Ice Cube.
Of course, the overall success of the event itself hinged on the racing product being entertaining. Thankfully, the Cup Series field and Next Gen car lived up to their end of the bargain.
Hidden beneath the glitz of the location was a classic short track event. With heats, last-chance qualifiers (LCQs) and a 150-lap main, Sunday’s racing could have played out in similar fashion at bullrings across the United States.
Heats brought early drama over transfer spots. The LCQs took that drama and ratcheted it up to another level, ending with a second 50-lap war that saw the entire field involved in wrecks and the initial winner, Ty Dillon, penalized for jumping the final restart. Stars like former champions Kurt Busch and Brad Keselowski failed to make the feature, opening the door for young stars like Justin Haley and Chase Briscoe to make the main and contend.
The 150-lap feature was an exercise in vehicle and lapped traffic management, hampered only by a couple untimely cautions and unfortunate mechanical issues for early leader Tyler Reddick, Briscoe and Denny Hamlin. There was no dramatic send on the final lap for the win, but Logano and Busch battled to the closing circuits before Logano finally gained enough wiggle room to cruise through the last lap.
For the crowd of 50,000-60,000 present, many believed to be attending their first NASCAR race, the sports stars delivered a truly memorable event that held up to expectation.
“I thought it was a great event,” Kevin Harvick said of the Clash. “I think for the way that everything went, I don’t think you could have asked for it to go any better as far as the event goes.”
This felt like the sort of big hit that NASCAR’s been aiming for over the past year with signature race trips like Circuit of the Americas (COTA) and the Bristol Dirt Race. But unlike in those weekends, NASCAR was met with the right combination of circumstances to emerge with a complete success.
The arrival of the Next Gen car came at the perfect time, its wider tires and improved braking allowing for a better driving experience on the tight quarter-mile oval – the first NASCAR has held a Cup race on since 1971.
Holding the event at the start of the year allowed for the sport and its partners to build momentum without any major hinderances. Unlike at both COTA and Bristol in 2021, Mother Nature also played along, allowing the Cup field to compete under the sunny LA sky throughout the weekend as opposed to trudging through weekend-altering rain.
In the short term, those involved can pat themselves on the back and celebrate a success before working toward the Daytona 500 in two weeks. But in the long term, the Clash’s success also leaves multiple questions to answer…
A glimpse of the future?
Taken at its most simple, Sunday’s Busch Light Clash was a successful proof of concept.
NASCAR went to a venue purpose-built for other sports, successfully converted it into a racing facility and then delivered a strong event for both TV partners and fans in attendance.
The impact of the event’s success could be felt in major ways moving forward.
The obvious impact could come to the Clash itself. Those hoping for a return to Daytona are unlikely to see it after such a successful showing in LA. Anything is possible, but Sunday’s showcase in LA felt more memorable and relevant on the grander sporting scale than any Clash in recent memory.
As for the stadium concept, moving points races to such a unique, challenging facility could be too tricky to manage. But could NASCAR consider keeping its exhibition-style races at unique tracks and venues like the LA Memorial Coliseum? Absolutely.
The door is open for NASCAR to return to LA in 2023. But beyond that, the possibilities are endless. While it’s worth noting that the logistics surrounding building a track a quarter-mile or greater could be difficult outside of the LA Memorial Coliseum, — it was built with Olympic ambitions and is longer than most football stadiums — the purpose-built race track concept could be used all over. This could even open the door for an international event if a proper location in a suitable market can be found – could you imagine a mid-summer trip overseas for a race?
Speaking of mid-summer races, it’s also difficult to see the All-Star Race not being shifted at some point down the road. With respect to Texas Motor Speedway, it’ll prove difficult to muster up similar optimism and joy for a standard race on an intermediate oval when compared to the thrill of this weekend’s festivities.
As for the rest of the season, there are a few potential takeaways that could come from this weekend.
First off, the clamoring for more short tracks is only going to grow stronger. While also a proof of concept for NASCAR’s ambitious Clash plans, Sunday’s racing also provided another example of the potential benefits of short-track racing.
There was intense, contact-filled racing from the drop of the first green flag through the final lap – shown no better than by Michael McDowell and Martin Truex Jr.’s spin in front of Logano as he was on his cooldown lap after the checkered flag. Lapped traffic remained a threat during runs of any appreciable length, adding another layer to the competition up front. Tempers flared, leading the typically cool-headed Ryan Blaney to toss his HANS safety device at Erik Jones’ car after a crash in the middle of the race.
These are the sorts of things that fans of short track racing will point to as NASCAR continues to evaluate its future schedules, particularly with potential for a race at the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway and a downsized Auto Club Speedway to be held in the future.
While not likely to bleed into ‘normal’ races, there’s also something to be said about the Clash’s overall format.
Having heat races and last-chance qualifiers split the race up into digestible chunks better than stages ever have. Keeping the field from being locked into the feature also added stakes, incentivizing the drivers to fight hard for every spot.
The 150-lap feature was enjoyable without overstaying its welcome, particularly with only 23 cars present on-track. Whether the day makes a case for shorter races or just better segmentation is up for debate, but there are potential takeaways from how the overall event flowed.
Traditionalists would argue that races shouldn’t be segmented at all – I should know, I’m one of them. But it’s difficult to argue that the structure of the Clash didn’t help it breeze by in a smooth, entertaining way.
The Clash will soon be a memory lost to the overall flux of NASCAR’s grueling season. But its influence and impact could be felt for years to come.
Next Gen success
Lost a bit in the glamor of the the overall show at the LA Memorial Coliseum was the success of NASCAR’s Next Gen car in the new machine’s competitive debut.
That’s not to say that the Next Gen car wasn’t a key factor in Sunday’s race. All it took was one look at the new-look liveries with forward-shifted numbers to be offered a reminder that NASCAR was using the race as an entry into the sport’s next era.
It merely goes to show that the cars performed as needed at the first time of asking, to the point of becoming a background layer in the greater Clash story.
There were gremlins along the way, as expected from such an ambitious launch of a new car amid the challenge of the tight, quarter-mile oval. Early race leader Tyler Reddick was lost to mechanical woes shortly before the halfway point. Potential contender Chase Briscoe and Joe Gibbs Racing star Denny Hamlin also fell out with problems under the same caution. Such attrition was once normal for the sport, but in a standard points race with playoffs on the line, the issues could have been a big story.
But this wasn’t a key playoff race, it was an exhibition right at the start of the year, when early bugs are expected. The bigger focus surrounding the new cars on Sunday was how they helped make the weekend a success.
Had NASCAR attempted the Clash at the Coliseum even one year ago, there’s a strong chance that the old cars couldn’t have even made the corners. Drivers in Sunday’s race admitted as much afterward, noting how the wider tires and improved braking on the Next Gen car — implemented with road courses in mind — actually paid significant dividends on the Coliseum track.
Perhaps the biggest win in the big picture was the lack of flat tires despite numerous instances of contact. From bumps and sends to side-swipes and wall slaps, the NASCAR field tested the Next Gen car’s durability in a major way on the Coliseum track. But there were no flat tires stemming from fender rubs – something that has plagues the sport for many years.
“There was a lot of bumping and banging, and it was OK,” Logano said after his win.
That’s a shift that could play into the conclusion of races down the stretch run of the season.
Making it count
The crowning moment of Joey Logano’s week may have nothing to do with his victory on the LA Memorial Coliseum.
Logano was understandably excited after winning the 150-lap feature, having fended off Kyle Busch by .877 seconds over a tense closing run to secure the win. He engaged in a lengthy burnout around the track and then emerged from his No. 22 Ford to the adulation of the Coliseum fans.
But in the midst of his victory interview with FOX Sports, Logano admitted that he had a bigger lifetime moment coming soon.
“I was so excited about this,” Logano said. “This is a big win. My wife is having a baby tomorrow, our third one, so a pretty big weekend for us.”
The past year has been a quiet one by Logano’s standards. He had his worst season statistically since 2017 in 2021, winning just once and scoring only two top-fives in a quiet playoff run.
But what Logano has lacked in quantity for success in the past year, he’s made up for with quality. His two victories during the stretch have come in the Bristol Dirt Race and Busch Light Clash – the first Cup dirt race in 50 years, along with the first Cup race on a quarter-mile oval in… You guessed it… Fifty years.
That’s not to say he’s driven to his personal standard. Logano is a Cup champion with ambitions of earning multiple wins and a title each season. But if you’re only going to have two victories in a year, the Connecticut native has certainly chosen a memorable pair of races to conquer.
Hot tempers in the California sun
The Busch Light Clash was only an exhibition race, but that doesn’t mean the field didn’t take it seriously.
In fact, a few drivers showed signs of noticeable frustration.
Fostered by the short track’s tight racing, numerous drivers found themselves on the giving and receiving end of bold moves and significant contact.
The highlight of the weekend was the second last-chance qualifier, which descended into chaos as each of the nine drivers competing threw their best haymakers at the rest of the field in an effort to muscle their way into the feature.
But the biggest moment of anger came during the feature, courtesy of the typically-mild-mannered Ryan Blaney.
Blaney was so angry after a mid-race run in with Erik Jones that he threw his HANS safety device at Jones’ No. 43 Chevrolet.
“He destroyed me for seventh,” Blaney said afterward. “It doesn’t really make any sense. … I was kind of just riding around and (he) just run in the back of (me) and killed our car. Yeah, I was mad, but you’ll have that.”
If the throw bothered Jones, he didn’t show it. The Petty GMS Racing driver soldiered on to a strong fourth-place finish in the feature before claiming that Blaney had slammed on his brakes to kill Jones’ momentum.
“He brake-checked me off of [Turn 4] (for) no real reason,” Jones said. “I didn’t appreciate that. I felt like I showed it on the track. … I was frustrated with the move that he made. That’s what happened.”
Notes
- How about Cody Ware? It’s fair to say the Rick Ware Racing driver entered Sunday’s race as an underdog, but he showed pace in Saturday’s practice and followed it up with a strong run in the second LCQ. Ware ultimately came home in fourth, falling one spot shy of qualifying for the feature. But he beat potential playoff contenders including Chris Buescher, Ross Chastain and Aric Almirola.
- RFK Racing’s new era got off to an inauspicious start in California. Neither Brad Keselowski nor Buescher managed to make Sunday’s feature, making the team an afterthought by day’s end. Whether it was just a momentary setback or a sign of a difficult year to come remains to be seen.
- By winning Sunday’s race, Joey Logano became the second driver to win the Clash on two different circuits. He won the 2017 edition of the race on the Daytona International Speedway oval. Runner-up finisher Kyle Busch is the other driver to accomplish the feat, having won on both the Daytona oval (2012) and road course (2021) in prior editions of the race.
- Justin Haley didn’t get the finish to show for it, but he was strong throughout the weekend at the Coliseum. The incoming Kaulig Racing rookie qualified third, won his heat and was a fixture in the top quarter of the field until his race was ended by a run-in with defending champion Kyle Larson.
- Aric Almirola’s final Clash run came to an early end. The Floridian struggled in qualifying and wound up crashed in the first LCQ by Front Row Motorsports rookie Todd Gilliland. “The 38 just destroyed us,” he said. “We had a decent start and we were moving forward and the 38 just drove in there a mile and tore us up.”
- A positive for FOX Sports: Tony Stewart was a joy in the booth, adding a nice mixture of analysis (as a driver and team owner), wit and banter to the race’s broadcast.
- A negative: When there are only 150 laps in a feature with 14-second laps that also includes a lengthy halftime break, electing to take a full-screen ad break during green flag laps comes across as just a bit greedy. Fans watching at home lost a considerable chunk of the race’s first half to ads.
- A top-five in an exhibition may not hit the same as a points race, but for Austin Dillon and Erik Jones, the results still had to provide a sense of hope heading into 2022. Dillon’s third-place effort was his first top-five in any Cup event since the 2021 Daytona 500. Jones’ was his first of any kind since his arrival at what was then Richard Petty Motorsports in 2021.
Next Up: Speedweeks. The NASCAR Cup Series field will practice at Daytona on Tuesday, Feb. 15. Qualifying will follow on Wednesday, with the qualifying races taking place on Thursday. The Daytona 500 is set for Sunday, Feb. 20.
Busch Light Clash Results
- Joey Logano
- Kyle Busch
- Austin Dillon
- Erik Jones
- Kyle Larson
- William Byron
- Cole Custer
- Christopher Bell
- AJ Allmendinger
- Kevin Harvick
- Chase Elliott
- Harrison Burton
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Daniel Suarez
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Michael McDowell
- Ryan Blaney
- Bubba Wallace
- Justin Haley
- Ryan Preece
- Tyler Reddick
- Chase Briscoe
- Denny Hamlin
Heat 1
- Kyle Busch
- Daniel Suarez
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Ryan Blaney
- Denny Hamlin
- Ross Chastain
- Todd Gilliland
- Aric Almirola
- BJ McLeod
Heat 2
- Tyler Reddick
- Chase Briscoe
- Austin Dillon
- Cole Custer
- Bubba Wallace
- Alex Bowman
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Harrison Burton
- Brad Keselowski
Heat 3
- Justin Haley
- William Byron
- Christopher Bell
- Chase Elliott
- AJ Allmendinger
- Kevin Harvick
- Chris Buescher
- Cody Ware
- Corey LaJoie
Heat 4
- Joey Logano
- Kyle Larson
- Michael McDowell
- Erik Jones
- Austin Cindric
- Ryan Preece
- Kurt Busch
- Landon Cassill
- Ty Dillon
Last Chance Qualifier 1
- Denny Hamlin
- Kevin Harvick
- AJ Allmendinger
- Cody Ware
- Chris Buescher
- Ross Chastain
- Corey LaJoie
- Todd Gilliland
- Aric Almirola
- BJ McLeod
Last Chance Qualifier 2
- Ryan Preece
- Bubba Wallace
- Harrison Burton
- Brad Keselowski
- Austin Cindric
- Landon Cassill
- Ty Dillon
- Kurt Busch
- Alex Bowman
- Martin Truex Jr. (DNS)
