NASCAR to open ’22 inside L.A. Coliseum

NASCAR will open the 2022 season inside Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in one of the biggest shakeups to its schedule in years.

The annual exhibition Clash, held at Daytona International Speedway since 1979, will shift to Los Angeles next year. The invitation-only race was always the kickoff to competitive NASCAR racing and held the week before the season-opening Daytona 500.

The 2022 race will be held Feb. 6, one week before the Super Bowl and two weeks before the Daytona 500. The race will be inside the stadium on a temporary, quarter-mile, asphalt track. The historic Coliseum is home of the University of Southern California football team and seats 77,500.

The announcement made Tuesday night on Fox Sports precedes the release of the full 2022 schedule.

“Los Angeles is synonymous with major sports and entertainment events, so we seized an innovative opportunity to showcase NASCAR at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum,” said Ben Kennedy, NASCAR senior vice president of strategy and innovation. “We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to take center stage in this market as we get our 2022 season underway.”

NASCAR has run inside stadiums before, including regional events at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem and a Cup race at Soldier Field in Chicago in 1956.

MLB

BRAUNS ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT

» Ryan Braun, the Milwaukee Brewers’ home run leader whose production was slowed by injuries during the second half of his 14year career, announced his retirement on Tuesday.

Braun hasn’t played all season and said during spring training that he was leaning toward retirement. The 2011 NL MVP made it official Tuesday in a video the Brewers posted on Twitter.

“While it’s impossible to summarize my emotions right now, what I feel most is one simple thing — gratitude,” Braun said.

Braun, 37, batted .296 with 352 homers and 1,154 RBIs. He ranks second among Brewers in RBIs (1,154), extra-base hits (809), total bases (3,525) and doubles (408). He ranks third in runs (1,080), hits (1,963), triples (49), stolen bases (216) and walks (586). He is fourth in games played (1,766).

Braun became a free agent after the Brewers declined to exercise a $15 million mutual option in his contract last October.

The six-time All-Star batted a career-low .233 with eight homers and 26 RBIs in 39 games last season while dealing with a back issue.

NFL

MOSTERT OUT FOR SEASON » San Francisco 49ers running back Raheem Mostert will undergo season-ending surgery on his knee after getting injured in the season opener.

Coach Kyle Shanahan had said Mostert was expected to miss eight weeks because of chipped cartilage in his knee, but Mostert announced on his Twitter account Tuesday that he will miss the rest of the season.

Mostert said he was “gutted” by the news, but after consulting with multiple doctors felt this was the best decision for his long-term future.