Joey Logano becomes first NASCAR winner at LA Coliseum with Busch Light Clash victory

It is perhaps NASCAR‘s most ambitious plan in a long time. Many were rightfully skeptical when it was revealed. The premier Cup Series and its new Next Gen car racing in a temporary quarter-mile oval located in a college football stadium in the heart of Los Angeles? If one went back in time and presented this idea to another fan, they would likely be met with a confused look, if not boisterous laughter.

But that was what NASCAR did, and while it is too soon to make a proper retrospective, it might have been one of their biggest hits to date.

The Busch Light Clash, which had been held at Daytona International Speedway as a prelude to the season-opening Daytona 500 for over four decades, instead took place Sunday at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for the first time ever. After Saturday’s practice and night qualifying and the drama of the Last Chance Qualifier, the yellow-and-red car of Joey Logano held off pole winner Kyle Busch to win his second career Clash in a stadium whose primary tenant—the USC Trojans football team—wears red and yellow.

Busch, the reigning Clash winner, established himself as the early favourite when he set the fastest time in qualifying before dominating his heat race. Unlike previous Clashes where only a select few were invited, all thirty-six chartered cars participated which necessitated four heats and two LCQs to whittle down the grid to twenty-three for the final. The heats’ pole sitters Busch, Tyler Reddick, Justin Haley, and Logano all led flag to flag, though stories were aplenty in the midfield such as Cody Ware‘s dramatic effort to make the final for perennial underdog Rick Ware Racing and a crash involving Kurt Busch, Brad Keselowski, and Landon Cassill.

The first LCQ once again saw the first-place starter leading every lap with Denny Hamlin locking his spot in. Save for an early wreck in which Todd Gilliland turned Aric Almirola into the wall, it was once again a relatively clean race. On the other hand, LCQ #2 was a microcosm of what doubters expected of the Clash: an incident-filled scramble that was exacerbated by drivers hoping to secure the final spots in the feature. Seven cautions occurred in the fifty-lap race, with Ty Dillon being involved in five. Dillon’s tumultuous day seemed to find light when he escaped with the LCQ win after starting last, only for it to come to an end entirely when he was penalised for jumping the final restart and the win shuffled to Ryan Preece. With reigning champion Kyle Larson qualifying via heat finish, Martin Truex Jr. rightfully opted not to run the heat and instead took the provisional given to the highest 2021 points finisher who had yet to advance (Truex was the 2021 runner-up).

The four heat winners comprised the first two rows for the feature. Reddick held the early advantage over the field, leading until Ricky Stenhouse Jr. spun on lap 53 for the first caution. However, the leader met an abrupt demise when his driveshaft broke after dropping the clutch to warm up his tyres. A similar fate befell Chase Briscoe, who noted in a Reddit comment that such an issue did not occur in the Gen-6 car, and said that “it’s concerning but they will figure it out for sure, they will have to because we do the same thing every time we leave the pits.” Hamlin also retired from the race during the break with a power steering failure.

With Reddick out of the picture, Busch was once again on top. Another caution came on lap 65 with Chase Elliott’s single-car spin, followed by a halftime break at the midway point ten laps later.

The race resumed with Busch and William Byron leading, and the former cleared Byron for first. Preece exited shortly after with oil pressure problems.

Busch’s grip over the top position ended when Ryan Blaney hit the wall on lap 115 after contact with Erik Jones; with NASCAR Hall of Famer and noted helmet tosser Tony Stewart calling from the FOX booth, Blaney responded to the wreck by chucking his HANS device at Jones’ car, but returned to the race. The ensuing restart was aborted after Larson turned Haley into the wall.

The final thirty-four laps saw Busch attempt to run down Logano, an effort marred by lapped traffic. Yet it would not be enough as Logano pulled away to score his first Clash victory since 2017. The 2018 champion seems to have a knack for solid performances in inaugural events, having won the first Bristol Dirt race and leading the most laps in NASCAR’s maiden foray at Circuit of the Americas in 2021.

“Finding speed, we were slow, twenty-eighth or so on the board yesterday,” Logano told FOX. “Made some good changes. Worked with our teammate Ryan Blaney, I owe a lot to him too, to see some of the gains they made, and ultimately get the win.

“[…] This is special to get the first Next Gen win, the first win here in the Coliseum. It’s a special one. We’re going to have some fun and celebrate it.”

In the end, perhaps NASCAR has every right to pat itself on the back for the race. It has been seen as a bold move since it surfaced as just a rumour, and critics were understandably doubtful: how practical was it for the seventh-generation Cup car to debut on such a short track where not every car could fit, especially as questions surrounded parts availability? Despite its size, the West Coast is not exactly a hotbed for NASCAR fandom either, so why pursue that market? What were the logistics and finances of building a track to be used only once instead of focusing on local short tracks in the South?

As it turned out, there was not much for fans to worry about. NASCAR stated that seventy percent of the approximately 60,000 fans in attendance were new to the sport, and organisers went all in to turn the Clash into a Southern California event. Trackhouse Racing Team owner and acclaimed musician Pitbull performed prior to the final, while acclaimed rapper Ice Cube did so at halftime and disc jockey DJ Skee provided music over the public address during cautions. Many celebrities flocked to the Coliseum, and a contingent of local sporting legends were the grand marshals with USC football greats Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart, former Major League Baseball pitcher Jim Abbott and Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, 1980s NFL stars Eric Dickerson and Greg Townsend, and Olympic beach volleyball star Misty May-Treanor gave the command alongside NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon to fire engines.

“Today proved that hey, we can race anywhere,” Logano said in his post-race press conference. “That says a lot about our sport. That’s the biggest win today for the future of our sport. It’s so big.”

While the Coliseum has hosted motorsport in the past such as motocross and stadium trucks, stock car racing on a football field is typically reserved for grassroots divisions. Still, the Clash’s apparent success has many wondering about NASCAR potentially holding stadium races elsewhere, including abroad: Kevin Harvick expressed interest in the UK’s Wembley Stadium (a former Race of Champions host) while Austin Dillon is intrigued by AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas (which the AMA Monster Energy Supercross races at). Some even proposed returning to Japan, where NASCAR held exhibitions at Twin Ring Motegi and Suzuka Circuit in the 1990s.

However, this does not mean the Cup Series will suddenly become a four-wheeled AMA Supercross or a multi-country world championship. The Coliseum has hosted a wide array of sporting events including the Summer Olympics for nearly a century, which provides it with a larger playing surface for NASCAR to build an oval upon than American football-specific venues. NASCAR senior vice president of strategic innovation Ben Kennedy described the Coliseum as “a perfect footprint as you think about the size of the field itself.”

“I’m not advocating that we’re taking the Clash overseas, I don’t want anyone to take that away, but it does open up the opportunity for us if we wanted to showcase NASCAR,” commented NASCAR executive vice president Steve O’Donnell. “(Ben and I) have always talked about, you have to go to a road course, they have to build a track somewhere if you’re in Europe. Not anymore. We’ve proven out you can go to a cool stadium with a track around it, we know what to do, we can go in and out, some opportunities there.”

Whatever NASCAR’s plan is, at least they now have experience to build upon.

Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	4	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	150	Running
2	1	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	150	Running
3	10	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	150	Running
4	16	43	Erik Jones	Petty GMS Motorsports	Chevrolet	150	Running
5	8	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	150	Running
6	7	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	150	Running
7	14	41	Cole Custer	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	150	Running
8	11	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	150	Running
9	21	16	A.J. Allmendinger*	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	150	Running
10	19	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	150	Running
11	15	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	150	Running
12	22	21	Harrison Burton	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	150	Running
13	9	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	150	Running
14	5	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	150	Running
15	23	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	149	Running
16	12	34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	149	Running
17	13	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	147	Running
18	20	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota	146	Running
19	3	31	Justin Haley	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	116	Accident
20	18	15	Ryan Preece	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	75	Oil Pressure
21	2	8	Tyler Reddick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	53	Drivetrain
22	6	14	Chase Briscoe	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	53	Drivetrain
23	17	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	52	Power

Italics – Competing for Rookie of the Year
* – Ineligible for Cup points

Qualifying race results

Heat #1

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	1	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	25	Running
2	2	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	25	Running
3	3	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	25	Running
4	4	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	25	Running
5	5	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	25	Running
6	9	1	Ross Chastain	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	25	Running
7	8	38	Todd Gilliland	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	25	Running
8	6	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	25	Running
9	7	78	B.J. McLeod	Live Fast Motorsports	Ford	23	Running

Underscore – Advanced to Clash

Heat #2

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	1	8	Tyler Reddick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	25	Running
2	7	14	Chase Briscoe	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	25	Running
3	6	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	25	Running
4	2	41	Cole Custer	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	25	Running
5	5	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota	25	Running
6	4	48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	25	Running
7	9	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	25	Running
8	3	21	Harrison Burton	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	25	Running
9	8	6	Brad Keselowski	RFK Racing	Ford	23	Running

Heat #3

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	1	31	Justin Haley	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	25	Running
2	3	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	26	Running
3	4	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	27	Running
4	2	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	28	Running
5	5	16	A.J. Allmendinger*	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	29	Running
6	6	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	30	Running
7	7	17	Chris Buescher	RFK Racing	Ford	31	Running
8	9	51	Cody Ware	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	32	Running
9	8	7	Corey LaJoie	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	33	Running

Heat #4

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	1	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	25	Running
2	2	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	25	Running
3	3	34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	25	Running
4	6	43	Erik Jones	Petty GMS Motorsports	Chevrolet	25	Running
5	5	2	Austin Cindric	Team Penske	Ford	25	Running
6	7	15	Ryan Preece	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	25	Running
7	8	45	Kurt Busch	23XI Racing	Toota	25	Running
8	4	77	Landon Cassill*	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	25	Running
9	9	42	Ty Dillon	Petty GMS Motorsports	Chevrolet	6	Accident

LCQ #1

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Laps	Status
1	1	11	Denny Hamlin	50	Running
2	4	4	Kevin Harvick	50	Running
3	2	16	A.J. Allmendinger*	50	Running
4	8	51	Cody Ware	50	Running
5	6	17	Chris Buescher	50	Running
6	3	1	Ross Chastain	50	Running
7	10	7	Corey LaJoie	50	Running
8	5	38	Todd Gilliland	50	Running
9	7	10	Aric Almirola	4	Accident
10	9	78	B.J. McLeod	4	DNF

LCQ #2

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Laps	Status
1	4	15	Ryan Preece	50	Running
2	1	23	Bubba Wallace	50	Running
3	7	21	Harrison Burton	50	Running
4	9	6	Brad Keselowski	50	Running
5	2	2	Austin Cindric	50	Running
6	8	77	Landon Cassill*	50	Running
7	6	45	Kurt Busch	45	Accident
8	3	48	Alex Bowman	45	Accident
9	5	19	Martin Truex Jr.	0	DNS
N/A	10	42	Ty Dillon	50	Running (Penalty)