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BACK TO GALLERIES

See how the Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum track is taking shape

By Staff report | Published: February 2, 2022 41

Alejandro Alvarez | NASCAR Digital Media

BACK TO GALLERIES

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Just a few days are left before the NASCAR Cup Series and the Next Gen car take the track Sunday in Los Angeles for the Busch Light Clash (6 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Scroll through to see the transformation of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. For more information about the event, including how to buy tickets, click here.

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Alejandro Alvarez | NASCAR Digital Media

A finished look at the football field-turned-race track.

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Alejandro Alvarez | NASCAR Digital Media

The event paint is done.

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Alejandro Alvarez | NASCAR Digital Media

The Busch Light Clash will begin here ...

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Alejandro Alvarez | NASCAR Digital Media

... the Busch Light Clash will also end here.

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Alejandro Alvarez | NASCAR Digital Media

NASCAR has made its mark on the LA Memorial Coliseum.

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Alejandro Alvarez | NASCAR Digital Media

Another look at the brand-new race track.

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Jason Goode | For NASCAR Digital Media

The stripes were painted as one of the finishing touches to the track transformation at the LA Memorial Coliseum.

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Julia Zara | For NASCAR Digital Media

An end-zone view of the quarter-mile track that is ready for NASCAR Cup Series drivers to battle, starting with practice on Feb. 5. See the full schedule for Clash weekend.

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Julia Zara | For NASCAR Digital Media

How would you like to have a 50-yard line seat to the Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum?

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Julia Zara | For NASCAR Digital Media

Or maybe you prefer to sit closer to the track? Although, only the cars will get this close to the track.

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Julia Zara | For NASCAR Digital Media

The wall is clean now, but will we see some stripes on it? The composite body of the Next Gen car has us leaning toward yes.

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Julia Zara | For NASCAR Digital Media

Fight on, right? Only this time it will be cars running out of the tunnel instead of football players or the Trojan Marching Band.

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Michael Chow | For NASCAR Digital Media

Sitting here gives you a great view of Los Angeles in the background, in addition to an overhead view of the tunnel entrance.

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Michael Chow | For NASCAR Digital Media

This might be better than watching goal-line cam when you imagine the cars zooming past.

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Michael Chow | For NASCAR Digital Media

Subtle reminder that Race Hub will return on FS1 next week. Be sure to tune in, but first, enjoy the California sunset.

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Jennifer Fisher | NASCAR Digital Media

This photo was taken a week earlier than the previous ones. Notice that the stripes aren't yet painted on the track.

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Jennifer Fisher | NASCAR Digital Media

The Busch Light Clash will see four heat races, two last-chance qualifiers and a main event take place on Feb. 6.

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Jennifer Fisher | NASCAR Digital Media

Twenty-three drivers will make the 150-lap main event with the top four each advancing from heat races and the top three from the last-chance qualifiers making it. The final spot will go to the highest points getter in 2021 that did not qualify through the heats and LCQ.

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Jennifer Fisher | NASCAR Digital Media

The action will kick off on Feb. 5 with practice and single-lap qualifying runs.

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Jennifer Fisher | NASCAR Digital Media

The roughly 0.25-mile track is nearly ready for action.

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Jennifer Fisher | NASCAR Digital Media

The famed LA Memorial Coliseum has hosted lots of events from the Summer Olympics to the Super Bowl to concerts to University of Southern California football games.

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Jennifer Fisher

Jennifer Fisher | NASCAR Digital Media

NASCAR officials and dignitaries gathered in December for a groundbreaking ceremony at the LA Memorial Coliseum, turning the first shovels on what will be a temporary quarter-mile asphalt track for the 2022 Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum exhibition. The ceremony took place exactly 100 years after the venue's original groundbreaking.

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Jennifer Fisher

Jennifer Fisher | NASCAR Digital Media

An overview of the quarter-mile oval layout that was to be paved and readied for the annual NASCAR Cup Series exhibition.

"Every time I walk in here, I get goosebumps," said Auto Club Speedway president Dave Allen. "... The opportunity for NASCAR to race inside the Coliseum is really unbelievable, and a credit to Ben Kennedy (NASCAR Senior Vice President of Strategy and Innovation) and the brainchild he had there for this event. It's coming together, there's dirt going down and it's starting to look like a race track."

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Jennifer Fisher

Jennifer Fisher | NASCAR Digital Media

The 2022 Busch Light Clash logo adorns the big screen behind a sea of deep-reed seats at the LA Memorial Coliseum, the longtime home to the University of Southern California football team.

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Jennifer Fisher

Jennifer Fisher | NASCAR Digital Media

Mounds of dirt sit ready for ceremonial shovels with the LA Memorial Coliseum's iconic grand peristyle as a backdrop.

"Today is actually the centennial of our original groundbreaking where L.A. and civic leaders had a vision for what a venue like this would mean, in L.A. in Exposition Park," said Kevin Daly, the Coliseum's assistant general manager. "So we're excited to continue that tradition of having Olympics, World Series, Super Bowls, 98 years of USC football and now a NASCAR Cup Series event, which is just a tremendous opportunity for us. We're excited to have it, and again it's been a true partnership in envisioning what this'll look like and what this can be."

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Jennifer Fisher

Jennifer Fisher | NASCAR Digital Media

Michael Waltrip, former driver and current analyst for FOX Sports, was on hand to survey the construction site inside the LA Memorial Coliseum's bowl. "You will get cold chills when you walk through the peristyle and see this race track," Waltrip said. "Kind of makes me want to get back behind the wheel."

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Jennifer Fisher | NASCAR Digital Media

The curvature of what will be Turns 3 and 4 on the quarter-mile layout stretch out over the LA Memorial Coliseum's east end.

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Jennifer Fisher

Jennifer Fisher | NASCAR Digital Media

Hard hats and reflective safety vests get the NASCAR treatment with 2022 Busch Light Clash branding.

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Jennifer Fisher

Jennifer Fisher | NASCAR Digital Media

The early morning California sun shimmers over the LA Memorial Coliseum's eastern edge.

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Jennifer Fisher

Jennifer Fisher | NASCAR Digital Media

The venue sits idle for now, save for the work being done to prepare for the Feb. 6 event. But the sound of stock-car rumble will soon fill the Southern California air.

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Jennifer Fisher

Jennifer Fisher | NASCAR Digital Media

The afternoon sun hits the LA Memorial Coliseum with an upper-deck view of the track below and the city in the distance.

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Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum

Crews work to install asphalt in early January with the race just more than a month away.

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Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum

An aerial view of the track, with the full oval paved in.

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Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum

Soon, stock cars will rumble on this quarter-mile layout.

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Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum

And these stands will be packed with fans to take in all the big-city action.

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Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum

It's a beautiful site. And sight.

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The exterior wall of the track while it was being completed.

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Tractors begin to install catchfences.

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NASCAR Engineers

The catchfences will run all along the exterior wall, keeping cars inside the track and protecting fans from debris.

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NASCAR Engineers

A complete overhead view, detailing how the entire track is shaping up.