The 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season will begin again with the Busch Light Clash At The Coliseum and with it many questions will still be up in the air. One of these will be the long term fate of The Clash’s staying power in Los Angeles. So today we will take a big look back at why The Clash fell and how it could be on the brink of being reborn. This is the fall and rebirth of The Clash.
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52 comments
Much like I asked last year in my Clash video what are your thoughts on The Clash being in L.A.?
Love the clash at the coliseum. You see so many people whining. “Dontwantnodamnhalftime” yet they’ll sit through 45 minutes of track farming at the local track before the b features start. So many Larson lickers saying NASCAR DONT BELONG IN CALIFORNIA, all while wearing a Jeff Gordon hat, Kyle Larson t shirt and Kevin harvick socks, Jimmy Johnson underwear and Ernie Irvin sunglasses.
Pention:have 30 cars at daytona so it’s a mini 500 because everyone loves the 500
I think it’s great but to be honest I’m actually more excited for the euronascar clash on ice
Great, but next yr it needs to be in Mississippi, Nascar has never raced in Mississippi
Obviously for me the way I grew up Saturday night Budweiser shootout. I think it only be 50 laps at Daytona!
I like The Clash and having it in LA but I want the criteria for getting in to the race to be more constructive rather than everyone having an opportunity to make it in.
@IanPerez2000 I think the plan is to go bumper to bumper with cars having a wreak fest. If there was no changes to saftey I am still pushing the theroy that somebody higher up in NASCAR thinks a Death (like Dale Sr) will bring back the popularity of NASCAR to its peak in the 2000’s. This person is probably somebody on super Meth or worse drugs that are even stronger like Crack and Meth combo where they make Crack while cooking down super meth overtop the Meth in the same pan.
@MLGProSwag69 If 90% of the field is lapped by the top 3 then the race is not worth watching due to the crappy drivers or too many cars on a small track makes it a wreak fest with nobody finishing or advancing all drivers wreak out. You can get these two options very easy with the second one probably easier then the first.
@Curtis Blevins “well, bud” lol. Condescending.
I think about 18-19 cars would be the perfect number. 3 from each of the four heats, 3 from the LCQ’s, and the highest placed driver from the previous year that won a pole
I want it to work like the early 2010s all star race.
I like The Clash, especially their album “London Calling”
Honestly that is a great album
Somehow Discharge at the Coliseum doesn’t have the same ring.
Nice
Whatever algorithm led me here failed. This is not relevant to my interest in The Clash.
This may sound crazy, but I kinda want the clash to be held at Volusia speedway park
I just watched a race there absolute agree what a track!
Not a bad track. Maybe the Truck series should go there instead of Knoxville. Pfft
@Run Rafa Run #THEBESTINTHEWORLD they don’t go to Knoxville anymore
That would be a great idea – though you could also make a case for New Smyrna Speedway (a 1/2-mile short track near Daytona) hosting the Clash during Speedweeks. It could easily be integrated into the existing World Series of Asphalt racing schedule, which features Late Models and Modifieds (including the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour). How about a Modifieds/Cup Series Clash doubleheader? I would definitely buy tickets and make the trip from NJ to Florida for that race and then the 500 a week later.
I wouldn’t say the Clash is reborn just yet. Yes, last year’s event was really exciting to say the least, but if we’re talking about rebirth of what fans enjoyed back in the day, I say return the Clash back to Daytona. Main reason is because if the Clash remains at the LA Coliseum, fans are gonna get tired of it on the long run.
But that’s just me. In all seriousness though, we’ll see if this year’s clash will be just as exciting as last year’s event.
See I think it needs to be somewhere completely unique something that isn’t seen throughout the year. It gets the hype going for the season because you know that if you miss it you won’t get to see it for the rest of the year. Daytona doesn’t give that, it already has 2 major dates and occasionally 3 with the introduction of the daytona road course. So the clash other than for hardcore super speedway fans isn’t that big a deal. Also back to back superspeedways isn’t neccessarily the ideal recipe. Especially if the clash somehow is more interesting than the 500.
@Ian Perry But the Clash at Daytona was a tradition for years before it was moved for “newer fans” and for “entertainment”.
@Cito Brownejust because something is traditional doesn’t automatically mean it’s good. The Clash’s popularity coincided with nascars peak. The race was boring and stale for 10 years before they moved to the Coliseum. No one showed up. Hardly anyone cared. Moving to the coliseum brought life to a dead event. Going back would be treading the stale and safe path. It was for its own good
@Ian Perry But what will happen if the Clash remains at the Coliseum for years down the road?? Wouldn’t fans be tired of it then, and not show up??
@Cito Browne well what would happen if Michigan kept its 2 traditional dates, wouldn’t people get tired of- oh yeah that’s right, they axed one of their dates because people got tired of having 2 of them. Same with Pocono. Same with New Hampshire. Same with Dover. Same with traditional 500 mile intermediate races that practically don’t exist anymore.
Look, one could say that people will get tired of over saturation of any track other that the Crown Jewels and Martinsville. No where did I say they should keep the Clash in LA for 10 years, but I did say that the traditional, Daytona Clash every year just wasn’t working anymore. Moving it back won’t guarantee success just because that’s its traditional venue. I hope, like you, the Clash will be even more exciting this year than last and will draw a good crowd. In the long run, I think it should rotate to unique venues to ensure it remains as a special, cool, and memorable start to the season. Agree to disagree tho
I would not be even at all annoyed if the LA Coliseum race was just that, an exhibition race separate from anything else. But the fact it was the clash name being used frustrates me. That being said, teams using the clash as fuel mileage and running around in a single file line for 74 of 75 laps is even more infuriating
The Bud Shootout days in the 2000’s I will always enjoy, but I think nascar did it right by going to LA for the Clash. It’s such a unique event now that I’m taking the trip out there from the east coast for this. So to get me to go out to California for a exhibition race, I think nascar did it right. Especially since no one was attending the Daytona Clash anymore. Now fans all over the country are making the trip for the Clash
I wouldn’t say no one. Plenty of people still came
Hope you enjoy LA. I’m going too regret not going last year for the first one. But it should be fun.
One thing I wished they added to the clash of last year was for us to have watched the pitstops and how it would have worked. With the introduction of the next gen car, this would have been a great opportunity for them preview how the pitstops would look like with the single lug design they went with for the new race car. I was saddened when every time there was a caution that they never shown that to TV viewers.
Nope that would be too difficult. Not worth it.
Well there were no pit stops to watch. The track is short enough that they can make a full fuel run for the race. The infield area is way too small to have live, competitive pit stops anyways.
What really hurt the Clash at Daytona imo is you could easily tell teams and drivers went to ways with the race, either another test session or just try to through the end of the race without damaging their vehicle.
Gone were the days of honest racing and felt more like an obligation than a true exhibition race.
I think what could’ve helped is use the cars from the previous season for this one race.
I originally thought that the Clash at the Coliseum would be a flop but now looking back. It wasn’t a bad idea! Cant wait to watch again
The only issue was Nascar got the time wrong last yr, thats why it looked empty, nascar posted east coast times, not west coast, so everyone showed up 2-3 hours after. Lol this yr will be alot better, at night, full stadium.
It was amazing and it should stay there
I want to see the Clash take place at a fan-voted track, with the tracks rotating every year. For instance, the 2024 clash could be the choice of Daytona, Charlotte Roval, LA Coliseum, or (hypothetical) Houston Street Course for instance.
Or Rockingham
Houston would be great since I live here. XD
North wilkesboro
I prefer it to be at the coliseum. Especially with the weather and timing for the teams it just makes sense since we are trying to get nascar across more people I’d rather get the casual fans to be hooked in from the before the regular season than during the regular season that’s meant for the average/hard-core fans. This is all just a race for fun
For people that are saying race tracks that are in North Carolina in February there’s a lot of snow storms there it’s too cold so I’m thinking Los Angeles is the best place for it it’s always warm there
One of the first NASCAR races I ever went to was the 1998 Bud Shootout, and I went back until 2001. I loved the race. As a kid who grew up near Speedway, Indiana, the entire month of May was dedicated to the 500. I had that same feeling with Daytona in February, and the Bud Shootout was another part of that month of racing. It was cool to see the special paint schemes, and it seemed like the drivers at the time really held the race as something special, only limited to the pole winners. Hell, I remember the drivers getting Remington rifles before the race… part of the “shootout”, get it? It was something special then. It did lose its touch, as nascar and its sponsors watered down the event. I’m cool with the short track racing, but there is something special about DAYTONA.
I always enjoyed the first version of the Bud Shootout between 1998-2000. Which was 2 25-Lap races (not segments, as said in this video). The first race was The Bud Shootout Qualifier which had the Fastest 2nd Round Qualifiers who didn’t earn a Pole in the previous year and they raced for 25 laps with a green flag pit stop between laps 10-12. The Winner starts from the rear of The Bud Shootout. Another 25 Lap race, with a mandatory pit stop and the winner takes the money and the bragging rights. Those 2 races filled 2 hours of air time total with the pre-race and post race for each race. The Qualifier was on ESPN and the Shootout was on CBS.
Especially once it was extended and the field expanded, all but maybe the last few laps of The Clash felt like a glorified Daytona 500 practice session.
Now if sponsors get tight I mean really tight for drivers more then they are now, would the possibility of having to move the event to say at least the same side of the country be a thing? I fear this being the case where 1/2 or more of the teams have to skip Daytona due to team not wanting to spend the money on the cars travel due to very tight team budgets. The other thing I could see is move this to an actual track in California that is a 1/4th mile Short track stadium style race to have NASCAR Save money on the race and having to construct/deconstruct a track every season. Or they eventually move to the new Short track LA that replaces one track in NASCAR that needed upgrades, sorry I forget the name.
The 2011 shootout was pretty good along with 2014 and 2015. 2016 was decent. Didn’t like 2017 and 2018 ending cause my drivers lost. I think 2021 was great. My only gripe is not being called the shootout anymore
While the idea of the clash being on a short track is great, I still am not a fan that it’s all the way on the other end of the country just a week before Daytona. There are plenty of tracks NASCAR could go to that would be way less expensive and more efficient regarding travel.
It’s a really great event at the LA Coliseum and the history at Daytona as well. I would love to see a Daytona Beach race & Speedweeks grows again but that’s probably not possible.
I’m worried it’s just gonna be “just another race” once Auto Club Speedway is demolished into another short track. I hope the tradition is kept somewhere.