The NASCAR Cup Series Busch Clash was held Saturday at Los Angeles Memorial Colisuem. The longtime exhibition event run before the start of the season has been run the last three years at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Saturday’s race was the third event in a three-year contract to run at the Coliseum. Previously the event was held for decades at Daytona International Speedway the week before the Daytona 500. It’s unclear where the event will end up for next season. Today’s poll question asks, what you do think should happen to the Busch Clash? Vote below.
IMO they should move it annually to a diff sanctioned short track. Show the feeder system some love. Give back to the “roots” and “home tracks” that they always talk about.
I think they should return the clash to Daytona. I miss having a real prelude to the Daytona 500 and I miss Speedweeks. I don’t really know how to run the clash in this manner. Build something like a legends track on the front stretch so you can rub the clash in a short track and use the big grandstands maybe. I had a crazy thought they they could do a multi class race on the road course with Cup, Xfinity, and Trucks on track at the same time giving all the series equal exposure.
See… there’s that word “roots” again. Kunta Kinte would be proud.
The existing short tracks are already addicted and no need for love. NASCAR is trying to woo the big markets where the wealth is, hence, the LA Coliseum. Remember when there was talk about putting a Cup track on Staten Island to go after the NY/NJ Metro area population? NASCAR is just testing to see if there is money to be made.
I personally think all the Clash Races have been terrible. The race should be at Daytona and not Los Angeles.
Nascar has recently tried cup cars on a dirt track, inside a stadium, and on a street course. There is only one type of course left these cars could run on to try next, ice racing on a frozen lake.
I like the idea of it being at a short track, but there are issues. The real NASCAR Roots short tracks can’t handle the crowd, which leaves us the typical NASCAR short tracks. If they want it at the beginning of the year that pretty much brings us to Phoenix. No other short tracks would have decent enough weather in February for it. Watever happened to the downsized 4/10 mile version of Fontana? Haven’t heard anything about that in a while. Or set up a much better version (read as NOT a teeny tiny paperclip used by the WMT) of the short track on the Daytona back stretch. Maybe a 3/8 or 4/10 oval would would work there with room to accomodate a good crowd already there.
Along with Fast Eddie… THOMPSON!!!!!
A summer show, with a bunch of temporary stands put up on the backstretch, and elsewhere. Not for points, but goodwill from NASCAR.
I saw the Grand National cars at Islip Speedway. We’re talking all those HUGE MOPARS and Fords filling up that itty-bitty track. It was insane.
Cup cars at Thompson would be huge, especially given the history of the track.
Dareal, great idea!!! Maybe a Saturday night show, Early afternoon practice, heat races late afternoon, and the feature that night. And of course, the WMT would be a perfect additional division to go with it!
Well, great hype and fanfare at coliseum year 1.
Significant drop-off year 2.
I hope the 2 people in the stands enjoyed it this past weekend. I know, tough situation and Nascar did what they had to do to move the event due to weather.
So, other than Sonoma, I think Nascar anywhere in California is luke warm at best. Imo, they bulldozed one of the best tracks for racing at the end of its California life out there. The last 3 or 4 cup races for that size track out there have produced some of the best racing for a large track. I’d take that track over 20 las Vegas’s any time imo.
Point is, the clash race in California was never going to last due to the star studded fan base and fanfare after year 1. They are on to the next spotlight shining on them.
On national tv, Nascar wants a certain modern look and capacity imo.
For example only,
Stafford, while pretty, would not cut it unless significant seating capacity was added imo.
The poor step child Thompson, even if it had seating capacity, well, pardon me, she just aint pretty enough, even though I love the place.
NH already has a cup date, which they are struggling to hold on to.
I’m thinking any short track anywhere has the same issues, and I’m sure there are more issues you guys can come up with, for you guys that know way more national short tracks than I do.
I’m sure you will hear North Wilksboro thrown around, particularly if a certain Jr gets behind that idea.
I love the idea of Nascar embracing short tracks. That being said, I’ve always felt the Clash should be a Daytona Speedweeks thing. Keep travel simple for teams. Maybe their are incentives for teams as a bonus to make that pole during the regular season, or any other host of the exceptions to qualify to be in the clash, to use as a learning curve for the 500.
If I had to guess the next thing NASCAR will try is a race in Mexico. The NFL goes overseas for games.
Agree with Thompson, but the track would need a lot of work and who pays
Repaving the track and a larger/updated pit road
Safer Barriers
Where would the haulers go. On smaller tracks the stands go a lot higher to see over the top of them
Upgraded scoreboard
Bathrooms
The list goes on
They are working on the downsized Fontana. The last report I heard was that it will likely not be ready for 2025. Honestly the LA coliseum should be scrapped. The racing stinks and the novelty has worn off. I said an existing short track. If they want to stay in LA area they can try Irwindale speedway. Cost way less than building a crappy track in a football stadium. Something like five flags, desota or New Smyrna in FL would work weather wise. I just don’t know how much of a crowd they would expect. Would Nashville be good this time of year weather wise. The fairgrounds might be a good option in a fun city. Any one of those local short tracks would be able to handle the crowd they had last Saturday with some minor improvements. To put it anywhere north would require moving the clash to the summer. What is the clash an all-star race or something. Isn’t the race at North Wilksboro an all-star race. What is the difference? My guess just put it back in Daytona wreck a bunch of cars the week before the 500 make race fans pick between the short tracks and cup cars. Anyone else think the race coverage was horrible. The announcers were talking about accidents that were never shown on the broadcast. If an accident happens in turn 3 and no cameras catch it did it really happen.
It’s simple NASCAR woke up one morning and decided they didn’t like themselves. They were a regional series that was getting more and more popular. Expanded nationally and it was going great. Then it wasn’t and no longer the apple of the public’s eye NASCAR thought they’d try some really off the wall things. Not unlike a woman dying her hair and putting on heavy makeup or a guy getting a complete makeover.
Like putting dirt on a formerly very popular track with a great concrete racing surface and getting everything dirty with all kinds of particulate in the air for people to breath from a sub-par racing surface. Doing it not once but twice then having to clean it all up both times now only to decide they’ll just use the concrete surface this year.
Like putting down an asphalt track on a perfectly good grass surface in a place far too small for auto racing not once but three times. This last time they did all the work then had to move the race up a day because of weather where it garnered none of the splash they count on. Aside from the novelty long gone so many people didn’t know the day changed. So for the third time they get to clean the mess up only this time getting virtually no buzz for all the money spent.
Where the Busch Clash moves to aside, is this any way to run a racing series? Wasting millions of dollars effectively buying ritzy cloths, heavy makeup and hair dye jobs just to get peoples attention? In the history of all sanctioning bodies has any of them wasted so much money building things only to take them apart in so short a space of time?
The Chicago road race was smart but for every one of those decisions they do these bonehead deals with disposable racing surfaces. Put the Busch Clash anywhere I can’t believe it’s has virtually any affect on a seasons relative success or failure.
Too many series, too few people care about or even know exist. A befuddling web site that’s all sizzle with the substance too hard to find only the truly committed willing to do the work to find what they want.
Heavy makeup and dye jobs isn’t the answer. Simplify and do less better and stop spending stupid money on short term nonsense. If you’ve got millions to waste start at the grass roots and instead of creating new “brands” think of ways you can spend that stupid money at home tracks that will be the seeds to helping CUP grow in the long run. If that won’t help put the money into the teams that are the main attraction.
I voted for a short track facility because I think it’s the best option of the ones presented. But my actual choice would be E) scrap the race altogether. Sometimes events just outlive their usefulness, and I think that’s what has happened with the Busch Clash.
Wherever it is held, the Busch Clash should include beer drinking events. Let’s see if anyone can shotgun a beer faster than Katelyn Sweet.
I think a good place for the Busch Clash would be North Wilkesboro. You could add on as a support division the Cars Tour Super Late Models on Saturday then the Cup cars on Sunday there’s a handful of Cup drivers that run 1 or 2 races a year with that division so they may pull double duty and its only about an hour and twenty minutes from Charlotte. The races could be run during the day where it usually averages 50/60 degrees. They have the Allstar Race there so why not the Busch Clash.