NASCAR is back. Just three months after Kyle Larson won the 2021 Cup Series Championship, the 2022 season starts with an exhibition race — the Busch Light Clash at the Los Angeles Coliseum. The race will officially start tonight at 6 p.m. ET on Fox and the Fox Sports App. The qualifying heats for the race will begin at 3 p.m. ET.
For the main event, there will be 23 competitors in the race. All eyes will be on Larson, but Kyle Busch is the reigning Clash champion and has won the event twice. Back in November, PopCulture.com spoke to Busch about the goals he has for the rest of his NASCAR career.
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“I feel like I’m still in the prime of my career,” Busch told PopCulture. “I’ve got some good years left ahead of me. So I’m looking forward to hopefully being able to get another championship, two or three, hopefully. And then, of course, also reaching about 100 wins. That would certainly be nice. We’re two championships in. We’re 60 race victories in. So it’d be nice to continue to elevate that total, and also win a Daytona 500. That’s one of the biggest races of our sport. Actually, the biggest race of our sport. I’ve yet to win that one, so would certainly love to be able to get that check box under my belt.”
Busch also talked about competing in the Clash at the Coliseum. “It’s going to be tough,” Busch said. “Course is going to be very tight. I predict there’s going to be a lot of action. I don’t know how fast we’ll really be able to get to go. It’s not going to be a speed race track, where you go to some of these speedways and you run 190 miles an hour.”
On Saturday, Busch set the fastest lap in the single-car qualifying runs, which means he will claim the top spot in the opening heat race. NASCAR is starting the year competing at a place known for big events, as the LA Coliseum has hosted two Summer Olympics (1932 and 1984), two Super Bowls (1967 and 1973) and a World Series (1959). The venue is also home to the USC Trojans football team.
