Posted on by Adam Fenwick

Racing at Daytona International Speedway was not something Justin Bonsignore had on his 2024 bingo card.

The three-time NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion will get the chance to do just that when the ARCA Menards Series opens its 2024 season on Feb. 17 with the Daytona ARCA 200.

Bonsignore will make his ARCA and Daytona debut driving the No. 30 entry for Rette Jones Racing. He never would have reached this point if not for the Road to Daytona program, which gives NASCAR touring and regional champions the chance to turn laps at the legendary superspeedway during the annual ARCA pre-race practice.

Originally, the opportunity to take part in the pre-race practice was offered to 2023 Modified Tour champion Ron Silk. But when he was unable to fit the opportunity into his schedule, it was offered to Bonsignore, the 2023 runner-up.

“Obviously Ron Silk was unable to attend, and they reached out to me because I was next in line,” Bonsignore said. “I thought it was a really good opportunity to run laps at Daytona. I think that happened on a Thursday.

“On Friday and Saturday, I started thinking, ‘If I enjoy the test as much as I think I’m going to, we should probably try looking into seeing if we could put together a deal with a team.’”

Before he even made it to the pre-race practice, Bonsignore started making phone calls. One of the first he made was to fellow Modified racer Andy Seuss, who is a regular face in the ARCA garage as part of KLAS Motorsports.

“He gave me a lot of insight on what to look for at the pre-race practice and teams and this and that,” Bonsignore said. “He said, ‘You should call Mark Rette. I think he’s in need of a driver.’ I made a call to David Lewis at Roush Yates Racing Engines, my engine builder on the Modified Tour who does a lot of ARCA stuff. He reached out to Mark on my behalf immediately.”

Rette, the co-owner of Rette Jones Racing alongside partner Terry Jones, knew Bonsignore was big on the Modified Tour, but he didn’t know much more than that.

Justin Bonsignore celebrates winning the Thompson 150 for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at Connecticut’s Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park on Aug. 16, 2023. (Photo: Adam Glanzman/NASCAR)

When Lewis connected the two, Rette did a little research and quickly realized Bonsignore is a three-time series champion who ranks fourth on the all-time series win list.

In other words, Bosnignore knows how to drive.

“I’m from the Northeast. I’m New Jersey born and bred guy. The Modified Tour, those cars, I love them,” Rette said. “I’d always known Justin’s name. I obviously have tried to keep up with those guys and watch them. Those cars are near and dear to my heart from my childhood.

“I started googling. I’ve known the name, I’ve known the Bonsignore name and watched him race. I never realized he won three Modified Tour championships and is fourth on the all-time win list. The things that he has accomplished most recently in the last couple years … wow. It was way more than I thought.”

Initially, Rette wasn’t sure he would have space for Bonsignore in his program at Daytona. He had been working with Frankie Muniz, who raced for the team during the 2023 ARCA Menards Series season, about potentially competing at Daytona again.

However, in the weeks following the Daytona pre-race practice, Rette’s deal with Muniz fell apart. That opened the door for Bonsignore to fill the seat and make his ARCA Menards Series debut at Daytona.

“Up until two weeks ago, we were working on a program to put Frankie in the car for some ARCA races. Frankie was wanting to go to Daytona, and we couldn’t get the deal put together. Fortunately as one door closes, another door opens,” Rette said. “I picked up the phone and called Justin. We talked pretty much every other day, anyway. I said let’s put this deal together.”

From a logistical standpoint for Bonsignore, things really couldn’t have worked out any better.

He’ll first travel to Charlotte for a seat fitting in the Rette Jones Racing ARCA car on Wednesday, Feb. 7 before making his way to New Smyrna Beach, Florida, to compete in the Modified Tour opener on Saturday, Feb. 10.

Justin Bonsignore in axtion during the Miller Lite Salutes Mike Ewanitsko 200 for the Whelen Modified Tour at New York’s Riverhead Raceway on June 24, 2023. (Photo: Dakota Moyer/NASCAR)

He’ll then spend the next few days on vacation with his family, something that was planned long before the opportunity with Rette Jones Racing developed. Then, on Feb. 15-17 he’ll turn his attention to Daytona and the ARCA opener.

“For the last three or four years we’ve actually stayed and made a nice little vacation out of it,” Bonsignore said. “We’re going to spend the whole week there and then obviously the ARCA deal will pick up on Thursday and Friday with practice and qualifying.”

From an expectation standpoint, Rette believes Bonsignore can be a threat to win given his Modified experience combined with his maturity as a driver.

“My expectations are high. I think this guy can go compete,” Rette said. “Strength is in numbers with Venturini obviously having five cars, Rev Racing having two cars. Strength is in numbers when it comes to superspeedway racing. But I think if we put ourselves in the right position, I think we can go down there and compete and have a shot at it.

“It would be a storybook thing for Justin. Modified guy comes to Daytona, races at New Smyrna in a Modified Tour car on Saturday night, and a week later he’s competing for a win at Daytona. How cool is that story?

“I want to go win this thing.”

And to think, without the Road to Daytona program, none of this would have even been possible.

“Without the call from the NASCAR to be part of the Road to Daytona program, I never even would have considered pursing it any further,” Bonsignore said. “It’s something that came together last minute and very quickly, but it’s shaping up to be a very good opportunity in front of us.”

Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

LOS ANGELES — Bent fenders, heated discussions and an impressive performance encompassed a thrilling Saturday night in Southern California for Ty Gibbs.

Gibbs, the 21-year-old sophomore driver for Joe Gibbs Racing, led a race-high 84 laps in the exhibition Busch Light Clash at the famed Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. An ill-fated restart from the lead with 10 laps to go resulted in him relinquishing the lead to teammate Denny Hamlin, however, running Joey Logano wide and ultimately spinning out before taking the checkered flag in 18th place, one lap down.

The 2023 Sunoco Rookie of the Year, Gibbs showed he still has some seasoning to do when it comes to racing the sport’s veterans. On the penultimate restart, his No. 54 Toyota lined up first on the inside row alongside Logano’s No. 22 Ford. Gibbs washed high from the center of Turns 1 and 2, though, nearly running Logano into the fence and allowing Hamlin, Gibbs’ teammate, to sneak low and snag the lead.

MORE: Recap the 2024 Busch Light Clash | Cup Series schedule

It was a disappointing end to an otherwise solid 2024 debut that saw him ahead of the field by nearly three seconds at times around the temporary 0.25-mile oval.

“It just was unfortunate,” Gibbs said. “I guess I’ve got to get better at restarts. My team brought me a great car as we saw and they did a great job. So it was a good showing.”

Logano, entering his 16th full-time season in the NASCAR Cup Series, didn’t take kindly to Gibbs’ near brush. The two have had previous on-track encounters that have left Logano frustrated, coming to a head at the 0.526-mile Martinsville Speedway, where Logano spun Gibbs around last October. Saturday night, Logano stormed to the No. 54 team’s hauler and confronted Gibbs, leading to a fiery conversation in the garage area.

“He’s just mad that I ran him up,” Gibbs explained. “But if you go back and look at the replay, the 12 (Ryan Blaney, Logano’s teammate) kind of chucks him out of the way, too. So it’s just hard racing at the end. This place is really hard to get your tires warm once the caution comes out, as we all see with everybody sliding around. So I just got in there deep and washed up into him and then we just kind of got all tangled up after that.

“He just came over and said that to me in a bunch of different words, but I knew what happened.”

Logano began his career at Joe Gibbs Racing, making his first Cup start in 2008 when Gibbs, the grandson of team owner Joe Gibbs, was only 6 years old. Now a two-time champion, Logano often found himself frustrating the veterans as he settled into the sport’s top echelon. Saturday night showed him on the opposite end of that spectrum.

“He just used me up, all the way to the wall,” Logano told NASCAR.com. “There’s a fine line of kind of pushing each other up a little bit if you’re racing for the win, but using me up with the history that he has with me is not a good idea for him.”

A detailed look at the damaged front of Ty Gibbs' car.
Zach Sturniolo | NASCAR.com

Despite leaving Los Angeles with a not-so-new enemy, Gibbs’ performance ultimately proved his first win may be in the not-so-distant future. At Bristol Motor Speedway last fall, Gibbs led a career-best 102 laps on his way to a fifth-place finish. Those performances are becoming less surprising each week, with his growth evident to crew chief Chris Gayle.

“I think it just shows his determination this year,” Gayle told NASCAR.com. “We’ve talked about it a little bit. He really feels comfortable now after having a full year under his belt in these cars. And so, you know, I expect runs like this all the time. I mean, he does, too. So that’s what should happen.”

And as for a slight mistake that proved costly late? No worries inside the No. 54 team’s camp.

“I think right now he’s beating himself up probably from that last restart,” Gayle said. “So we’ll just wrap our arm around him, let him know that — go look at Chase Elliott and how many seconds he had before he finally broke through. I know Ty wants to be a perfectionist, and he wants to nail them all. So we won’t have to say much to him. He’ll be rough on himself and we’ll go to Daytona and try to win.”

And to Gayle’s point — for what it’s worth, Elliott notoriously had eight second-place finishes before his inaugural Cup win. Now a series champion, Elliott has visited Victory Lane 18 times in his career. Gibbs’ best career finish so far: fourth-place at the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course.

For now.

Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

LOS ANGELES — Fireworks. Racing. Beefing. The 2024 Busch Light Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum went off without a hitch for the NASCAR Cup Series — 24 hours earlier than anticipated.

Imminent heavy rains forecasted to persist from Sunday through Tuesday put NASCAR’s plans in Southern California in question, with the main event scheduled for 8 p.m. ET, 5 p.m. PT, on Sunday night. Instead, the sanctioning body worked with television partners, teams and the Coliseum to swap plans midday on Saturday, resulting in the unprecedented decision to move the race one day early, all on a day when fans had free access to the historic venue.

The result? A thrilling exhibition race that delivered thrills, spills and even boiling tempers after the Cup Series’ event — plus a full 150-lap NASCAR Mexico Series race, marking a monumental day for the international series.

MORE: Best photos from LA Coliseum | Suárez steals show in return to Mexico Series

“I think it’s awesome,” said Chase Elliott, 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion and six-time most popular driver. “I think it’s one of the most logical decisions we’ve made as an industry, potentially ever. I appreciate it. I know a lot of the industry personnel really appreciate the willingness to make a change like that. To be honest with you, doing an event like this on a Saturday night is a better fit for it anyway. I think it’s a win-win for everybody.”

Denny Hamlin, a 51-race winner in Cup competition, co-owner of 23XI Racing and key player in the new Netflix docuseries NASCAR: Full Speed, echoed his support for the decision after holding off Kyle Busch to win The Clash for the fourth time in his career and first in Los Angeles.

“I think we should consider tonight a success only because if it didn’t happen tonight, I just don’t think it was going to happen at all,” Hamlin said. “And so while there will be some people that are upset about not being able to use their ticket for (Sunday), they weren’t gonna use it Monday either. And then Tuesday I’m not sure was an option. This thing was just gonna snowball into really straining the teams. All the people here at the Coliseum that have to get this thing converted back over. Tonight was the only option to get this thing in and I’m really happy that NASCAR made unprecedented changes to make sure that the fans at least saw a race.”

RELATED: Hamlin: ‘I beat your favorite driver again’ | Go ‘Full Speed’ with NASCAR on Netflix

Indeed, with Saturday admittance free for all goers, those Sunday ticketholders who purchased through Ticketmaster or NASCAR will be entitled to a refund and will be contacted by NASCAR in the coming days, per the race track, with pre-paid parking purchased for Sunday through Park Whiz to be refunded as well. NASCAR’s Chief Operating Officer Steve O’Donnell told NASCAR.com on Saturday afternoon that there were essentially “no good options” but vetted what was available to everybody.

“When we looked ahead of where we might be able to get this race in, you started looking at Monday, Tuesday and even possibly Wednesday,” O’Donnell said. “Challenges in terms of what might be available in terms of a public safety standpoint, and (we) realized this was our best option.”

Coordinating all the moving parts of a NASCAR event are logistically intensive — television, teams, fans, track workers and all others involved. Following a successful showing by all parties to handle such quick-moving alternatives, O’Donnell couldn’t help but smile afterward.

“I applaud the industry for pulling together and getting the race in, and it was actually really neat to see the number of fans that were able to come out,” O’Donnell told NASCAR.com. “We certainly would have liked to see the race start as scheduled on Sunday, but all in all, I think it was a good event. I think the drivers put on a really good show for the fans. We were able to get the Mexico race in too, which was big for us, and hopefully keep everybody safe as the weather comes in.”


“I think today is an unprecedented mark in our sport,” said two-time Cup champion Kyle Busch, “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. 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.”

The lower sections of the historic LA Coliseum were packed with race fans who got to experience a full day’s worth of events free of charge. While the circumstances were challenging to determine next steps given the uncharacteristically severe weather forecasted for the Los Angeles area, Saturday proved to be an endeavor that may pay off to be more fruitful in the long term than short term.

“I’m sure they took a huge financial hit, NASCAR does,” Kyle Larson, the 2021 Cup champion said, “but I think at the same point, the crowd is awesome out there for a spur-of-the-moment race and free admission and all that, so hopefully, a lot of these fans who’ve maybe never been to a race before will now fall in love with the sport and will venture out and kind of grow from there. So maybe this could accidentally work out really well for NASCAR.”

MORE: NASCAR Cup Series schedule | Gibbs, Logano heated after Busch Light Clash

With floods of complimentary responses from the driving core, O’Donnell highlighted the collaborative nature of all members of the sport to achieve what was accomplished Saturday.

“I think on our end, we’ve really stressed communication with all the stakeholders trying to make decisions based on the best interests of the fans but taking everybody’s input,” O’Donnell said. “And this one certainly was one of those where we were able to manage what was in the best interest of the industry, and that also matched up safety of the fans and getting the race in for them, so we didn’t have to ultimately postpone and they were able to see a race, which was great.”

Posted on by Staff Report

Daniel Suárez took home the checkered flag in Saturday night’s King Taco La Batalla en El Coliseo after missing out on the NASCAR Cup Series Busch Light Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

RELATED: Busch Light Clash results | At-track photos: Los Angeles

“I have a bittersweet taste about what happened to me in the Cup Series, but I am happy to have crossed the finish line first in this race,” Suárez said. “I pushed at the end and with about 20 laps left I knew that if I didn’t make any mistakes, I was going to take the victory.”

Due to torrential weather forecasted for LA on Sunday, the race was moved from Sunday to Saturday night, where Suárez beat out Santiago Tovar to the finish line in the 150-lapper at the historic venue. 

Starting from third place, Suárez went back to his racing roots and won the NASCAR Mexico Series race by nailing the final restart with seven laps to go.

Alex de Alba, Rogelio López and Jake Cosío rounded out the top-five finishers. Eloy López, Xavi Razo, Andrés Peréz, Max Gutiérrez and Enrique Baca completed the top 10.

MORE: Visit NASCAR Mexico Series website

Posted on by Reid Spencer

LOS ANGELES — The final restart was the difference for Denny Hamlin.

A day earlier than planned, the result of a devastating weather forecast for the Los Angeles area, Hamlin got the jump he needed on an overtime restart and won Saturday night’s third edition of the Busch Light Clash at The Coliseum.

Smoking his tires in every corner after grabbing the lead on a restart on Lap 141 of a scheduled 150, Hamlin was a few yards away from the finish line when his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Ty Gibbs, spun off the bumper of Kyle Larson’s Chevrolet to bring out the seventh caution and force a two-lap shootout.

On the final restart, Hamlin stayed clear of runner-up Kyle Busch and crossed the stripe with a 0.610-second advantage, earning his fourth victory in the season-opening exhibition race—most among active drivers—with the first three coming at Daytona International Speedway.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

Given the prediction of heavy rain and possible flooding from Sunday through Tuesday, NASCAR made the unprecedented and provident call to move the start of the race from 8 p.m. ET on Sunday to the same time on Saturday.

The decision allowed the NASCAR Cup Series competitors to complete the event without extreme disruption to the schedule.

“I got a really good run off Turn 2 and just got position and was able to hang on from there,” Hamlin said of his run to the lead after the Lap 141 restart. “It’s so chaotic on the restarts, with everyone bumping and banging, but it’s great to win here in L.A.

“It’s just a great momentum boost. It doesn’t do much more than that, but I clean off all the trophies every January 1 in the entryway to the house, and now we get to add one pretty quick, so I’m really happy about that.”

SHOP: Winner gear

Busch restarted behind Hamlin in the overtime, but Hamlin pulled away to a lead of nearly two car-lengths, and Busch couldn’t get to his bumper after that.

“I felt like the first half (of the race), I had a better car, better than the 11 (Hamlin), but some of the adjustments we made weren’t as good, some of the adjustments they made were better,” said Busch, who has finished second, third and second in the three events at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

“All in all, just glad to have a good night. Glad to come out of here in one piece with all the bumping and banging and everything else that happens.”

With a remarkable run from the rear of the field, 2023 Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney finished third after using a provisional just to make the field. Blaney started 23rd and made steady progress throughout the race.

Joey Logano came home fourth, with Kyle Larson claiming the fifth position. Alex Bowman, Chase Briscoe, Brad Keselowski, Martin Truex Jr. and William Byron completed the top 10.

Hamlin led 58 laps, second only to Gibbs, who was out front for 84 circuits and led by nearly three seconds before catching the back of the field in a green-flag run from Lap 78 to Lap 140. The yellow that ended the run—the result of Michael McDowell’s spin in Turn 3—bunched the field and gave Hamlin a shot at the victory.

Clearly, Hamlin took full advantage.

All eyes turn to Daytona now as the 2024 regular season kicks off with the 66th running of the Daytona 500 on Sunday, Feb. 18 (2:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

NOTE: Post-race inspection was completed without issue in the Cup Series garage, confirming Hamlin’s victory.

MORE: Hamlin’s pursuit of elusive title back into focus in new Netflix series

Posted on by Reid Spencer

In racing parlance, you can now say Denny Hamlin has fresh rubber on all four corners.

Hamlin, who was playing hurt during last season’s NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, needed surgery in November to repair a condition in which his collar bone intruded into the rotator cuff in his right shoulder.

RELATED: Denny Hamlin driver page | Gear up for The Clash

Starting in 2010 with an operation to repair a torn ACL in his left knee, Hamlin now has had surgery on both knees and both shoulders.

“I feel like it’s progressing really well,” said Hamlin, who also got engaged to longtime girlfriend Jordan Fish during the offseason. “While not 100%, (it’s) certainly better than it ended last season. Ran enough laps in the sim (simulator) and other places to feel pretty good at it.

“Actually, I’m happy to start the season knowing that I don’t have any physical ailments ahead of me. I feel really good about that, for sure.”

Hamlin, 43, and Fish have two daughters together. They announced their engagement on New Year’s Day.

“It’s good,” Hamlin said. “Certainly, age is all a factor, right? Certainly, the relationship that you’ve got. … She’s a great mom, a great partner and glad to move forward.”

MORE: Hamlin’s pursuit of elusive title back into focus in new Netflix series

Posted on by Staff Report

Christopher Bell and Chris Buescher, two drivers from last year’s NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, did not qualify for Saturday night’s Busch Light Clash exhibition race at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

RELATED: Clash starting lineup | At-track photos: Los Angeles

With a change in the format, only the 22 fastest cars in Saturday’s practice sessions qualified for the feature race, with the 23rd provisional spot being locked up by reigning Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney.

Buescher and Bell posted times of 13.574 and 13.593 seconds, respectively. Buescher was 30th out of 36 drivers in final practice in his No. 17 RFK Racing Ford, and Bell just 33rd on the speed chart in the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

“Practice was good,” said Bell, who reached the Championship 4 last season. “I felt like we were in a really good spot, and just didn’t have it in qualifying.”

Said Buescher: “Definitely made some decent improvement there for the last, third run. So yeah, I don’t understand why our group there was a lot slower than we were in practice. We needed some speed increase, and we were able to get a little bit but the cars that were really fast in our group slowed down. Ultimately just needed to turn a little better in the center.”

The Busch Light Clash was moved to Saturday night because of a severe weather forecast of torrential rain and potential flooding in the LA area for its originally scheduled Sunday evening start.

Thirteen drivers did not qualify for the 23-car field. Among them were all three Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidates: Carson Hocevar (25th in qualifying), Josh Berry (26th) and Zane Smith (36th).

Posted on by Staff Report

Denny Hamlin won the pole position for Saturday night’s Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum, topping the leaderboard in NASCAR Cup Series qualifying.

Hamlin posted a track-record lap of 68.498 mph on the temporary quarter-mile asphalt oval at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, putting his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota in the first starting spot for the 150-lap main event (8 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Joey Logano will share the front row for the feature after registering the second-fastest lap (67.925 mph) in group qualifying in the Team Penske No. 22 Ford.

RELATED: Practice/qualifying results | Updated weekend schedule

The starting lineup for the 23-car field was determined by a revised time-trials format after a gloomy forecast for severe weather forced NASCAR officials to move the event from a Sunday evening start to Saturday night. The rescheduling prompted officials to shuffle Saturday’s schedule, eliminating qualifying heats and a last-chance qualifying race. Instead, 22 starting berths were decided by the fastest speeds in four-minute sessions for six groups of six cars each.

Ty Gibbs was third-fastest in qualifying with Alex Bowman fourth and Kyle Busch rounding out the top five starters. The 23rd and final starting berth went to defending Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney, who took a provisional spot as the highest-ranked driver in the 2023 standings not otherwise qualified.

MORE: At-track photos: Los Angeles

Austin Cindric forced the only caution period of practice with a solo spin in his No. 2 Team Penske Ford as he exited Turn 2 in the second session. He did not make the cut for the 23-car field, and was joined on the sidelines by Christopher Bell, Chris Buescher, Erik Jones and Daniel Suárez among the 13 drivers who did not qualify. Chase Briscoe claimed the last starting spot based on speed.

Saturday night’s event marks the third consecutive year that the non-points race has been held inside the historic Los Angeles venue. The official Cup Series kickoff begins with the first points-paying race of the year, the 66th running of the Daytona 500 on Feb. 18 (2:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

This story will be updated.

Posted on by Staff Report

For the third consecutive year, the NASCAR Cup Series will race under the lights at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Saturday’s 150-lap Busch Light Clash (8 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

The race was moved to Saturday night due to torrential rain and possible flooding forecasted to hit the “City of Angels” on Sunday. The Mexico Series race is scheduled to follow the Busch Light Clash at 10:30 p.m. ET.

The 2024 rendition on the 0.25-mile asphalt oval will be slightly different than 2023’s event. For starters, spots for the main event will be more exclusive, with a 23-driver grid compared to a 27-strong lineup last season.

MORE: Clash weekend schedule | Gear up for The Clash

However, more spice comes in how the 23-driver lineup is cemented: The fastest 22 times in final practice (5:35 p.m. ET) will make the main event due to the heat races and Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ) being canceled.

The 23rd and final position in the grid is reserved for the driver who finished highest in the 2023 season points standings and did not transfer on speed in practice.

Follow along for live updates as we’ll post the lineup for the race following practice from the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum at the bottom of the page updated in real time.

FULL STARTING LINEUP FOR 2024 BUSCH LIGHT CLASH:

PositionCar NumberDriver
111Denny Hamlin
222Joey Logano
354Ty Gibbs
448Alex Bowman
58Kyle Busch
624William Byron
71Ross Chastain
85Kyle Larson
923Bubba Wallace
1051Justin Haley
1145Tyler Reddick
1241Ryan Preece
136Brad Keselowski
149Chase Elliott
1534Michael McDowell
1638Todd Gilliland
1710Noah Gragson
187Corey LaJoie
1919Martin Truex Jr.
2047Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
2142John Hunter Nemechek
2214Chase Briscoe
2312Ryan Blaney
Posted on by Staff Report

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.

RELATED: Updated weekend schedule | At-track photos: Los Angeles

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.