Getty Ty Dillon (rear) races Brad Keselowski (front) at the LA Memorial Coliseum.
The inaugural Busch Light Clash at the LA Memorial Coliseum took place on Sunday, February 6. This race served as the perfect opportunity to show off the Gen 7 stock cars and the future of NASCAR, and it did not disappoint as drivers put the composite bodies to the test with increasing frequency.
The afternoon started relatively quiet with three heat races taking place without incident. However, the track began to change while the drivers became more aggressive. The Last Chance Qualifiers featured numerous incidents, cars spinning out or hitting the wall, and some hurt feelings.
The action on the track was intense, which created excitement among the fans. They embraced the battles featuring Austin Cindric, Ty Dillon, Alex Bowman, and Bubba Wallace. They cheered even louder after contact between Joey Logano and Kyle Busch during the main event that gave the driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford the lead — and ultimately — the win.
“I think the body, the composite body, is a good part of not cutting the tires down potentially,” said Paul Wolfe, Logano’s crew chief, during a post-race press conference.
“We’ve seen that a lot in the past. As you look at kind of the Xfinity Series with a similar body, it’s shown to be able to take a little more beating there. I think that’s a big part of why we didn’t see that.”
Build It & They Will Come
“It’s nice to see that No. 14 car actually starting towards the front of the pack.” 🤣 @blakeshelton always has kind words for his buddy @clintbowyer.
The first-ever Busch Light Clash at the LA Memorial Coliseum was a question mark heading toward February. Would this experiment work? Would the new cars shine on the purpose-built short track? Would the fans show up?
Hours prior to the first heat race, there was one clear answer. The fans absolutely cared about NASCAR. There were thousands upon thousands of people wandering around the Coliseum and the area hosting the Fan Fest. The lines leading to each merchandise hauler were extremely long as the attendees set out to acquire some gear for their favorite drivers.
The LA Memorial Coliseum can hold more than 90,000 fans during a football game. The Busch Light Clash had fewer in attendance due to NASCAR blocking off certain sections of the stands. However, a large crowd filed into the iconic stadium throughout Pitbull’s concert and as the main event approached so they could witness the first race of the year and see the biggest names face off on the quarter-mile short track.
According to Alex Andrejev of the Charlotte Observer, NASCAR announced prior to the race that 70% of the ticket purchases were new fans. That little detail didn’t stop the reaction to Kyle Busch during driver intros. The boos and cheers alike were incredibly loud.
“70? That’s incredible. That’s nuts,” Logano added during his media availability. “To know that only happened because we came to them, right? We were racing in the city. We’ve never been able to do that. Typically you got to go 30 minutes, an hour or so out of downtown to put a race on because we need such a huge area.
“Today proved that, hey, we can race anywhere. That says a lot about our sport. That’s the biggest win today for the future of our sport. It’s so big.”
Along with thousands of excited fans, there were numerous celebrities on hand to witness the short track action. MLB’s Ben Verlander, former USC quarterback Mark Sanchez, singer Blake Shelton, actor William Fichtner, actor Clive Standen, and West Coast Customs owner Ryan Friedlinghaus were only some of the big names.
Questions Still Remain About New Parts
While the Busch Light Clash featured numerous fans in attendance and exciting action on the track, there were still some question marks after the exhibition race. Multiple drivers left early after experiencing a variety of issues.
Denny Hamlin was one of the first to exit the race. He first dealt with an overheating stock car before losing a power steering belt. This malfunction dropped him to 23rd place overall in the exhibition race.
Tyler Reddick and Chase Briscoe, who both started the Clash with impressive performances, each left the track for similar reasons. They each had transaxle issues and had to head to the infield/pit area for the remainer of the race.
Multiple drivers acknowledged after the mechanical issues that there are still some bugs to work out. Though Reddick took full responsibility for his mechanical problem and said that he had made a mistake while trying to warm up the tires for a restart.
“Yeah, I think still a lot of debrief that needs to go on. If you listen to the [No.] 8, he said he caused that,” said Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR senior vice president of strategic innovation, during his post-race media availability. “I’m not trying to deflect, but that’s something that’s going to happen.
“We’re still looking into the [No.] 14. We’ll kind of look through each and every car, not only those but the incidents we had, impacts on the wall, what broke. You saw a lot of cars that historically, if we ran this race last year with the old car, would have been out with tire rub, tire damage. That’s a positive. Any part or piece we see an issue, we’ll have a big debrief, get on it, fix it. Still a little bit early on that one.”
The style of the Clash and the size of the track put extra strain on the parts and pieces, so there is a possibility that these mechanical issues could be an isolated incident. However, the trips to Daytona International Speedway, Auto Club Speedway, and Phoenix Raceway in the coming weeks will provide further answers.
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