The 2022 NASCAR season begins this weekend with an exhibition race at a paved-over football field in Los Angeles. It represents new thinking for a sport in its eighth decade.
Almost everything about the race, called the 2022 Busch Light Clash, speaks to a different era for the sport. Instead of a 200-mile-per-hour race on the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway, drivers will spend two days on a quarter-mile track covering the field at the Los Angeles Coliseum. Former champion Joey Logano drives for Mooresville-based Team Penske.
“Last time I was on a quarter-mile I was driving a Legends car and I was nine so I think this is going to be pretty different,” Logano said. “It’s a full-sized car out there and I don’t know what we’re going to have for room but it’ll be interesting and we’ll learn. Either way we’re going to know whether we want to do this again or not.”
The cars being used in LA are NASCAR’s new Next Gen model that have more of the technology from everyday street cars and are designed to keep racers closer together. Charlottean William Byron drives for his hometown team, Hendrick Motorsports and was among a handful of drivers who participated in a test session at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Arizona, last week.
“There’s definitely a lot more conflict, I’d say,” Byron said. “You kind of pick and choose your battles. This race isn’t that long so you’re not going to have a lot of chances to kind of give and take. I think it’s going to be a lot more take.”
Several drivers have compared the temporary track constructed for The Clash to the quarter-mile track at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem where NASCAR’s top tier Cup Series raced until 1971. Byron says it’s also a little like half mile tracks in Martinsville, Virginia, and Bristol, Tennessee, where NASCAR races every season.
“Being out in a different environment, I’m looking forward to how cool it’s going to look with that place filled up with fans,” Byron said. “I’ve never raced in an atmosphere like that. I think the closest thing is Bristol and that’s an awesome environment when you pull off pit road for the race, so I think it’s going to be a really cool adrenaline rush, kind of seeing how that plays out and seeing how it is before the race.“
Logano believes moving the race from Florida to Los Angeles is a hint at what’s to come.
“If this does work, it gives us the ability to race downtown,” he said. “Right? It gives us the ability to race in the middle of cities where these stadiums are placed and if we can do that, I think that brings our sport to a whole different level.”
Practice, heat races and qualifying are Saturday with the main event Sunday at 6 p.m.
