Logano wins NASCAR race in L.A. Coliseum
LOS ANGELES — Joey Logano won the exhibition Busch Light Clash on a temporary quarter-mile track built inside Memorial Coliseum for a madefor-TV spectacular intended to hype NASCAR’s upcoming season.
NASCAR moved the Clash to Los Angeles from Daytona International Speedway, its home since its 1979 inception, as part of a focused effort to break from its traditions via big ideas.
The Clash was a success before a single racecar drove through the USC football team’s tunnel and onto the smooth, black asphalt that covered the Trojans’ field.
Jeff Gordon lit the cauldron built for the 1932 Summer Olympics before the race began. The crowd booed polesitter Kyle Busch like a bunch of old pros during driver introductions. The field was determined by heat races held earlier Sunday, and a pair of last-chance qualifiers to give drivers one final chance to make the 23-car starting grid. The format made for spirited racing in the final “LCQ” as rookie Austin Cindric bounced and banged his way through traffic trying to transfer into the main event.
Cindric fell short but was in good company: NASCAR champions Brad Keselowski and Kurt Busch were among the drivers who didn’t make it out of the heats.
Busch’s younger brother, Kyle, started on the pole for the 150-lap feature that included a planned stop on Lap 75. Busch dominated the first half but eventually was caught by Logano.
Logano won the Clash for the second time. It was the fifth win for Team Penske.
Nothing learned in Los Angeles
will transfer into the season-opening Daytona 500 on Feb. 20, but the race was the first for NASCAR’s new car. The Next Gen was a longplanned project that was delayed
a season by the pandemic.
The car is designed to cut costs to teams, even competition throughout the field and produce a better racing product. The Next Gen didn’t disappoint
in its debut on the shortest track on the NASCAR schedule.