Getty Images The NASCAR Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum.
The 2024 Clash at the Coliseum was hastily rescheduled to Saturday, February 3 to avoid a downpour in Los Angeles. The show must go on, after all. Besides, it’s mostly a made-for-television race, anyways.
The race took place. The bigger question, though, is does the Clash have a future?
The answer is, probably. But probably not at the Los Angeles Coliseum. Which means NASCAR may have to put on hold its big dreams of establishing roots in the nation’s second-largest city.
A Race Without a Home
Despite the region’s prominent car culture, Los Angeles is not a traditional market for NASCAR. Besides, most fans, and probably most teams, are thinking about Daytona in 2 weeks. To complicate matters, the Clash offers no points, few stakes. The race takes place on short track not purpose-built for NASCAR — or any racing. For a sport with such deep roots, the Clash has become rootless.
Where will the Clash go next?
Will there be another Clash?
Speaking to the Associated Press, NASCAR’s Ben Kennedy, who oversees the Clash at the Coliseum event, stated that, “the interest is still strong. The first year, it was new and novel and we’d never done anything like that before, and frankly I don’t think anyone has ever built a temporary racetrack inside a stadium that is a century old.”
Just like the NFL, which sought for decades to gain traction in the nation’s second-largest city, only to suddenly be blessed with two teams in the City of Angels, NASCAR has similar goals. Big money, new fans, made-for-television, massive viewing audience — even if not necessarily the best version of the sport.
That said, the Clash itself has a worthy history.
The NASCAR Clash got its start in 1979, in Daytona. Buddy Baker won the first Clash. Dale Earnhardt won his sixth Busch Light Clash in 1995, and still holds the record for most Clash victories. The Clash was moved to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in 2022, where it has remained since. Except, 2024 is the final year of a 3-year agreement between NASCAR and the Los Angeles Coliseum.
The Clash is suddenly facing a future in doubt.
A NASCAR Race in Need of a Purpose
With no agreement in place, it appears unlikely there will be a Clash at the Coliseum in 2025. This may be for the best, as NASCAR looks to both extend beyond its traditional demographic — and grow its audience outside the United States.
NASCAR is looking at moving the Clash to Montreal, Canada, or to Mexico City or Guadalajara — with NASCAR using the exhibition to help grow their Latin audience, according to The Athletic.
“Taking the Clash to Mexico City or Guadalajara is on [@NASCAR‘s] radar, perhaps as soon as next year, according to industry sources.” – @TheAthletic
Another idea gaining traction with some fans is to keep the Clash, keep it a short track exhibition, but move it each year from one (historic) short track to another. This would enable NASCAR to (re-) connect with its roots, and let fans who might otherwise not get to see a race in person actually watch one in their hometown.
But this idea does not align with NASCAR’s drive to expand its market and demographic reach. Thus, the idea of moving the Clash to Montreal or Mexico City, for example, seems more certain. And this may prove to be the true future of the Clash — and its true purpose: a NASCAR race explicitly designed to reach a new and growing audience, rather than traditional fans. From a business standpoint, that’s a worthy purpose.
As Kyle Larson told Motorsport, “There’s definitely a place for this style of event, I think, in our sport, if it moves around to different states or countries or whatever.” Larson added that the Clash has the potential to “broaden our fan base some.”