NASCAR is back for the 2023 season. While the season doesn’t officially start until later this month, the drivers are back together for an exhibition race at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The 2023 Busch Light Clash will start tonight, Feb. 5 at 8 p.m. ET and air on Fox.
The Clash is a good way for drivers to work out some kinks before the NASCAR Cup Series season starts. The race is also a good way to get the season off on the right foot. Just ask Joey Logano who won the Clash last year which led to him winning his second Cup Series Championship. Drivers and broadcasters seem to like starting the year in Los Angeles as the Coliseum has a lot of sports history.
Videos by PopCulture.com
“We’re right in the heart of Los Angeles,” NASCAR play-by-play announcer Mike Joy said Friday, per NASCAR.com. “And for this sport to have come that far — for the people that run NASCAR to have been that brave to completely break the mold and say, ‘We’re gonna go back to what we used to do in 1956 at Soldier Field in Chicago, and we’re going to pave a track inside a stadium. We’re going to run the Cup cars there.’ We all were as excited as we thought they were crazy. And look at this. I mean, this is fantastic.”
“I think this has opened a lot of doors that probably people in the past weren’t really expected to be opened,” 2014 champion Kevin Harvick said Saturday. “Because when I came here last year, I really thought this was gonna be a joke. But personally, it was probably one of the races that I had the most fun at last year. And you look at the atmosphere and everything that happened, it was a great event and I think coming back this year, everybody’s looking forward to it.”
The Clash normally takes place at Daytona International Speedway, but NASCAR decided to change things up last year and have the event in L.A. There will be 27 cars competing in The Clash, making the second largest field in the race behind 28 in 2009. Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams will be the honorary starter, while actor Rob Lowe will be the grand marshall.
