NASCAR Clash Race At LA Coliseum Is Just The Start Of Other Exhibition Races In Stadiums

The NASCAR Busch Light Clash exhibition race run on a temporary track built inside the Coliseum in Los Angeles is the pilot for other such races, including internationally, according to a top executive with the racing sanctioning body.

The start to the 2022 NASCAR season is in a place you might not expect. Home to the Univerity of Southern California Trojans and a location that has hosted everything from the Summer Olympics to the Los Angeles Dodgers to the earliest Supercross events, the NASCAR Busch Clash exhibition race (Sunday, 6 p.m. ET on Fox, MRN, and SiriusXM) is being served up on a quarter-mile temporary oval inside the LA Coliseum. The core concept of the race is to increase exposure – both on television and in the nation’s second-largest market.

While NASCAR does not divulge attendance figures, according to an industry source close to the event, ticket sales hovered around 50,000 heading into the week of the race, with the hope of topping out at 60,000 – a near-sellout given seats that had to be covered close to the track for safety purposes.

To add to the spectacle, the 150-lap race will see Ice Cube perform before the race, Pitbull mid-race, and DJ Skee provide music during cautions in the race.

In an interview with me for Forbes, NASCAR president Steve Phelps said the race took approximately 18 months to put together. In what may be a surprise to some fans of the sport, Los Angeles, not locations in the south. Where NASCAR has its roots, is the top market in the country for the sport.

“My first reaction when our team that includes Ben Kennedy [NASCAR’s Senior Vice President of Strategy and Innovation] and Steve O’Donnell [NASCAR’s chief racing development officer] said the LA Coliseum, it was, ‘Can we do that? Will it work?’ and they assured me that they could,” said Phelps. “We’re very excited for this event. It’s a great showcase to kick off our 2022 season and our NextGen car ahead of the Daytona 500.”

If the idea is that this exhibition is a “one-and-done” type of event, Phelps said it’s not, giving fans of the sport to wonder how –- and where future events inside a stadium might be. Phelps did not disclose the location but said that before going to the LA Coliseum, NASCAR was looking at another facility to host the event.

“This race is our proof-of-concept,” said Phelps. “Could we take the concept internationally? The answer is yes. We’ll do a lessons learned from the race at its conclusion but early results have been extraordinary. But, we’ll want to see what the racing has been like? Is it a good depiction of our racing? Can you do it, and do it coast effective? Do you partner with other countries or cities or facilities that you can? I think the opportunities are limitless. I believe we have shown that we are bold in the decisions we make from a car standpoint; from a scheduling standpoint; what we’re doing from a social justice standpoint – all those things we have to be bold as well as how we market our sport. And it’s working.”

As to whether racing returns to the LA Coliseum, NBC Sports is reporting that the Busch Clash could be there through 2024.

As to how the concept is playing out, FOX Sports and other social media platforms have thrown their full weight behind it. “We’ve had more pre-promotion than the prior ten Clash races, and it’s not even close. It’s off the charts.”

The venue. The market. The entertainment. The race, itself. All point to a ratings and marketing win for NASCAR. After Sunday, the only question will be, what stadium – and where – might the Busch Light Clash exhibition race head to next?