Kyle Busch leads Busch Light Clash qualifying

The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum is officially a NASCAR Cup Series circuit. Saturday saw thirty-six drivers take to the temporary quarter-mile short track for practice and qualifying ahead of the Busch Light Clash on Sunday.

Living up to the race sponsor, Kyle Busch was the quickest in qualifying, though it does not guarantee he will start on the pole for the Clash as the starting grid is set by four heat races. Tyler Reddick, Justin Haley, and Joey Logano followed and will have the poles for their respective heats.

Qualifying order was set based on an inverse of the 2021 owner points, with the field being split into two groups of eighteen each; a similar format was used for practice earlier in the day, albeit with three groups. Kurt Busch was the first driver to take a qualifying lap around the track, setting what would be the thirty-second fastest time. B.J. McLeod briefly stole the show when he had the fastest time as the seventh driver out, though he was quickly beaten by fellow initial user A.J. Allmendinger. Landon Cassill, Cole Custer, and Haley also enjoyed time as the top dogs. By the end, Haley topped the chart for Group 1.

Rookie Harrison Burton was the first of Group 2 to set a time. After Reddick set a blazing time that shot him to the provisional pole (over a tenth of a second faster than Haley), a caution briefly came out for debris in turn four. Busch surpassed Reddick by .024 to secure the top spot.

“It’s pretty cool,” said Busch. “It’s just different with the opportunity to do something like this. NASCAR took a lot of flak on what this was going to look like and what it was going to be. But we’re having a great time.”

As the top four in qualifying, Busch, Reddick, Haley, and Logano will each start on the pole in the four heat races. The top four in each advance to the final while the rest are relegated to a pair of Last Chance Qualifiers, with the top three in those moving on. The twenty-third and final spot is given to the driver highest in 2021 points but had not locked themselves into the feature. The provisional means defending champion Kyle Larson is guaranteed a spot in the Clash even if he fails to qualify via heat or LCQ performance. On the other hand, even being the fastest qualifier does not mean Busch is locked into the Clash.

“We’re not in yet, we still have to go through that heat race,” added Busch.

Chase Elliott, who was the fastest in practice, was seventh. Bubba Wallace brushed the wall and finished last during practice but rebounded to qualify seventeenth.

Qualifying results

Position	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Best Time	Best Speed (mph)
1	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	13.745	65.478
2	8	Tyler Reddick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	13.761	65.402
3	31	Justin Haley	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	13.891	64.790
4	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	13.949	64.521
5	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	13.952	64.507
6	41	Cole Custer	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	13.953	64.502
7	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	13.954	64.498
8	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	13.957	64.484
9	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	13.962	64.461
10	21	Harrison Burton	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	13.965	64.447
11	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	13.973	64.410
12	34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	13.978	64.387
13	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	14.007	64.254
14	48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	14.014	64.221
15	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	14.023	64.180
16	77	Landon Cassill*	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	14.050	64.057
17	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	14.053	64.043
18	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota	14.076	63.939
19	16	A.J. Allmendinger*	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	14.120	63.739
20	2	Austin Cindric	Team Penske	Ford	14.148	63.613
21	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	14.151	63.600
22	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	14.157	63.573
23	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	14.158	63.568
24	43	Erik Jones	Petty GMS Motorsports	Chevrolet	14.194	63.407
25	78	B.J. McLeod	Live Fast Motorsports	Ford	14.235	63.224
26	14	Chase Briscoe	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	14.247	63.171
27	17	Chris Buescher	RFK Racing	Ford	14.251	63.153
28	15	Ryan Preece	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	14.277	63.038
29	38	Todd Gilliland #	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	14.304	62.919
30	6	Brad Keselowski	RFK Racing	Ford	14.305	62.915
31	7	Corey LaJoie	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	14.326	62.823
32	45	Kurt Busch	23XI Racing	Toyota	14.437	62.340
33	1	Ross Chastain	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	14.451	62.279
34	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	14.466	62.215
35	51	Cody Ware	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	14.471	62.193
36	42	Ty Dillon	Petty GMS Motorsports	Chevrolet	14.532	61.932

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