Officials move Busch Light Clash to Saturday night start to avoid bleak L.A. forecast

NASCAR officials have moved the preseason Busch Light Clash at The Coliseum exhibition to a Saturday night start, adjusting the race weekend schedule because of the threat of torrential rain and possible flooding Sunday in Los Angeles.

The non-points event for the NASCAR Cup Series was rescheduled for Saturday at 8 p.m. ET (FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), one day earlier than its original start time at the historic Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The inaugural exhibition race for the NASCAR Mexico Series, initially scheduled for 4:30 p.m. ET Sunday, will be held Saturday night after The Clash at 10:30 p.m. ET.

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The rest of Saturday’s schedule was shuffled to accommodate the move. Practice for the NASCAR Cup Series was rescheduled to Saturday at 5:35 p.m. ET. Four 25-lap qualifying heats and a 75-lap last-chance qualifying race were canceled, and the first 22 starting spots in the main event are to be decided based on practice speeds. A final provisional berth in the 23-car field is reserved for the top finisher in the 2023 Cup Series standings who has not otherwise qualified for the feature.

Admission to the event will remain free, with limited fan services available and general admission seating. NASCAR officials indicated that ticket holders to the Clash would be contacted “in the days ahead on next steps to accommodate for the unprecedented impact on this event.” Officials also indicated that pre-paid Sunday parking would be fully refunded.

NASCAR Chief Operating Officer Steve O’Donnell said Saturday that competition officials briefly considered moving the Sunday start time of 8 p.m. ET up two hours but that concerns about the severity of the weather outlook prompted a more significant rescheduling.

“As the weather forecast continued to worsen, public safety and a lot of the things that were going around, a lot of different events that are going on in the community as well, we started to review Saturday options late last night and this morning,” O’Donnell said. “Those obviously sped up and we really applaud The Coliseum for even making this a possibility. It’s the best of what is a really tough situation for the fans and this racing community, but felt like this was the best option to keep everybody safe and still try and get both events in.”

A sampling of drivers lauded the move, acknowledging both the extreme circumstances and the forecast for heavy rain and life-threatening flooding for the next two to three days.

“I think today is an unprecedented mark in our sport and one that I think all of us will applaud NASCAR, FOX and everybody on for giving us the chance to get a race in today,” said Kyle Busch, driver of the Richard Childress Racing No. 8 Chevrolet. “I don’t know that we would have been able to do it before Wednesday and would we have even been here on Wednesday. So this was the best chance that we had. I feel like it was definitely a very good move.”

Said Denny Hamlin, driver of Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 11 Toyota: “I feel like this is the right move. You risk not running it at all. We’ve all come out here and we are in the window now where we know there is not going to be any rain for the next 12 hours or so. It’s like a Deal or No Deal – you had to take the bank on this.”

Joey Logano, driver of the No. 22 Ford for Team Penske, agreed.

“I think it’s a good move because it’s pretty apparent that it’s going to rain the next two days,” Logano said. “I see where it’s tough for NASCAR to make the decision, for sure, but I think there’s a lot of good out of it. The negative is that people that had tickets, I don’t know the details of how those are going to work. I’m sure they’re going to make it right, but I mean, if the race was tomorrow, they’re just going to come here and sit in the rain. So this is better than nothing. It’s the best we got, and we’re gonna do with what we got. It’ll be a little odd, a little different. Never knew we could do this before, but if there’s one we can do it with, it’ll be the Clash, so here we are.”

NASCAR officials said in a statement at the time of the rescheduling: “Due to the threat of unprecedented severe weather on Sunday, the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Mexico Series race events for the Clash have been moved to Saturday night. Thanks to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and Los Angeles Public Safety for their partnership and support to make the schedule adjustment for tonight’s event to ensure a safe experience for fans, competitors, and staff. We understand weather conditions may worsen as the day progresses, so we encourage fans to make decisions in the best interest of safety. We appreciate our fans, partners, and everyone associated with this event on this unprecedented event.”

Logano (2022) and Martin Truex Jr. (2023) won the previous two editions of The Clash in Los Angeles. Before its move to The Coliseum, the event had been held on the grounds of Daytona International Speedway each year since its inception in 1979.