NASCAR Clash at the L.A. Coliseum is in the books and wow, the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season has started off with a bang, or maybe a few bangs. With all that happened a lot of fans do not know what to think while others are predictably negative. So today we are going to look at the aspects of the race that I think succeeded and the others that failed. This is the good, the bad, and the ugly of the 2023 Busch Clash.
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Outro Song:
Strange Animal (Crowder Remix) by Gowan
Songs:
Cold Funk (Funkorama) by Kevin MacLeod on the YouTube Audio Library
#NASCAR #Motorsports #Racing
40 comments
What are your thoughts on the 2023 Busch Clash?
It’s was better this year specially they had night race
But my opinion they should return back to Daytona for the clash
It’s exactly what it is…an exhibition race that needs to be nothing more than that. It should be gimmicky, something different for the fan to see.
I will say, Joel McHale didn’t belong, nor was he entertaining. I strangely would have preferred a DW doing driver/team intros
@Craig Joe Don’t get used to it, they’re not supposed to be wreck fests.
@Existing in a space we’ll see how the next race does to hold my attention. But I was glued to the screen.
I agree with a majority of your points, especially about the racing product and event. There was a lot of good, but improvements need to be made for the future.
I did disagree with three minor things though and just wanted to get them off my chest: I am not a big fan of Mike Joy (better than the rest of his companions and I have nothing personal against him, but I just never have thought he was that great an announcer); I do like Joel Mchale and thought the preshow was hilarious (though, I will concede he could have prepped better jokes); and I respect the need for appealing to younger/ different audiences (I am usually on board for Nascar’s changes to adapt), but do we have to do it with terrible “music”? People should be coming for the race itself and the crowd’s atmosphere, not the musical artist’s halftime show…
I know my opinions mean little and probably aren’t liked, but I wanted to share since there was call for thoughts.
It’s very unfortunate that cautions came out every two laps at one point because the long runs were awesome to watch.
Not even 2 laps. They were stuck on the same lap for almost a half hour.
@theJman Yep, it was lap 69 (nice)
As a longtime SoCal NASCAR fan, I never got the true appeal of short tracks until watching that in person last night.
Absolute blast. Even the cautions didn’t seem too crazy in the stands ‘cause you could see the chaos developing.
It was like experiencing Bristol before the ‘07 reconfiguration.
Bristol is the epitome of short track racing that Martinsville can’t top. This was good race (cautions out of the picture), but Bristol is better
100% agree. I was there too and while seeing the caution flag wave continuously was a bit frustrating, it still was lots of fun. It’s pretty obvious that most NASCAR fans are too quick to judge when it comes to certain things.
Old Bristol was the measuring stick of short tracks, Martinsville is a close 2nd,it’s bristol, Martinsville and Richmond roll into one.
Overall, a very solid weekend and a good race, however I feel like there were too many cars in the last race which meant many cautions were inbound. 18 to 23 cars in the race would be about the right amount.
I know it’s just a non-points race, but MTJ is already on the mission to prove Jaret’s predictions wrong lol
Who is jarret?
The guy who is talking in the video
I hope so too. As a Blaney fan I was rooting against MTJ towards the end of the regular season last year, but I hope this year I don’t have to do that, he’s a great driver and deserves better.
@Megatron dale jarrett i think
Good: the racing was pretty good when they were not crashing
Bad: the constant incidents
Ugly: the 2nd half
There was four lead changes among five drivers and 16 cautions total. The average speed of the main event was literally 21.831 mph.
I know this doesn’t count but imagine if you counted in the concert, it would be 2ish
How was the average speed that slow when caution laps did not count
Agree the heats were better than the mains. I love this event and the idea. The race needs to go on tour. LA coliseum is cool. Love the history. Let’s take this layout to a stadium in New York.
I would love to see a July 4 race at Yankee Stadium or a street race wrapping around the landmarks that same day
Went to this race again, wow was it a blast, my voice is gone from all the yelling I did. Even my best friend took his girlfriend and she’s now a fan of nascar. Now I’ve watched nascar for 17 years (since I was 3) and well this race felt different. Maybe because it was my first night race I maybe biased but I actually enjoyed the race. The second half though was ridiculous and with all those cautions as I was freezing out in the cold, yes it was actually cold in California. The good was definitely the fan experience, having a Q&A for the fan fest featuring nearly every driver and getting autographs was awesome while also meeting new people just made the experience better. The heat races in my mind stole the show as it showed good racing and showed what some drivers are willing to do to get into the main event. The best example what Stenhouse tried to do to Elliot which led to Harvick to take his spot, that moment right there made everyone go crazy. The bad was definitely driver introductions. The man who did it was really really bad and to introduce them as a team instead of their own driver was kinda a buzzkill, now while they tried out something new, last year when driver introductions were done and they did them one by one you got a feel for who the people were going for and that’s always fun to hear. I am interested to see if the clash does comeback to california and if it does I’ll surly be back again and maybe next year will top this year.
Being the first NASCAR race I’ve watched end to end, the first half was entertaining to watch. The stereotypical turn left and crash gimmick of the second half had me on my phone scrolling through instagram.
I fell asleep before the race was over not because it was a snooze feast but I didn’t get much of a nap earlier that evening.
The Good: Truex winning
The Bad: They couldn’t stop wrecking and causing cautions and NASCAR considering the clash a points race
The Ugly: It was a shitshow
FINALLY! Someone else besides me thinks that the race was an absolute shitshow! NASCAR must be stupid to consider making the Clash a freaking points race.
Longtime fan from the mid-90s here: I like having the Clash in a venue like this, but there’s room for improvement. I feel like if the field for the main feature was more restrictive, possibly by eliminating one heat race and one LCQ, the event would have been way better. When we did get green flag racing, it was awesome, like old Bristol.
Also, while I’m not really a fan of Wiz Khalifa, that show was way better than some terrible pop country/hick hop act like we’d get elsewhere. Same for Ice Cube last year.
I was there, and people were singing along to both acts loud enough to hear. We still had that terrible hick hop act in between a phenomenal rendition of the Star Spangled Banner and the starting command
Clash at the Coli has shown it can work! But like all things, this is still in its kickoff stage. The concert lineups were lame, the schedule of pre-events weren’t as followed, this race should have been held on Saturday but keeping the same time at 5pm. As for issues with the lineup, less racers indeed! Too many drivers out on the track diminished what could be an actual consistent race inside the Coliseum. This event is fun, it’s out there and again, it can work! Hope it comes back stronger and fixes its current flaws!
I listen to the whole race on MRN and let me tell you, they did a great job of covering the race! They always do a great job of covering the race, but I never really give them their credit that they deserve. I though that the race this year was better than last year minus the wreck fest in the second half, but I think that they should move the Clash to a different venue for 2024. I’m going to go out of the box on this one and say Mexico City at Aztec Stadium. This would be a great to tap back in the international market. Also I think that it would be a huge mistake to make the LA coliseum a points race. Replace it with an existing track like Chicagoland and have a Chicago double header weekends. Have one weekend at Chicagoland and the street course on the 4th of July. And if it’s a hit, get rid of one of the Richmond or Kansas races in its place. I know that the Auto Club configuration is all but set and stone, but they should make it a mile traditional oval with high banking, kinda like an Asphalt version of Dover. They can still accomplish the land gains by having a mile track and also please update those grandstands and start from scratch with them!
Azteca Stadium in Mexico City for next year’s Clash is something that I could see happening because of what you mentioned. The crowd for the Clash in Mexico will be huge, just look at the yearly NFL game played at the same stadium as proof of that. The only thing that could get in the way of this event not taking place in Mexico City is not being able to schedule it at a time in which the two soccer teams that call the Azteca Stadium home (Cruz Azul & Club America) are not playing. Currently when one of the clubs is playing on the road, the other is at home (with the exception being when they play each other). Further complicating this is the fact that Club America owns the stadium & because they are owned by the biggest media company in Mexico (the same people that own & run Univision in this country), they have full control over what takes place at the stadium. If they don’t like something that would ruin the field, it isn’t happening.
MRN does better coverage than Fox Sports ever did the past 5 seasons. Also, Televisa is the owner of Azteca Stadium and are a monopoly on Spanish media everywhere, while crushing dissenters to protect its image. Nasty business
It was fun, but I think you nailed it when you said that this just confirms people’s preconceived notion of “turn left and wreck.” Speed and cars on edge is what makes this sport sexy.
I keep hearing content creators dunking on the second half of the race. I only tuned in for the second half of the race (I forgot it was happening) and I really enjoyed the whole thing. From the three lap stints with constant cautions to the longer 25ish lap segments, all of it was a great experience. It was the first race I’ve watched in more than a decade and I’ll probably watch more because of it.
I loved this years clash compared to last years. Good old fashioned short track beaten and banging. Don’t change a thing Nascar.
Being 5 hours ahead in the UK, I was a little disappointed it had a later start than last year’s which I was able to follow all the way through and enjoyed.