NASCAR Blazes New Trail at Historic L.A. Memorial Coliseum in '22

• The L.A. Coliseum is one of the country’s most iconic event venues.

• No one had any solid idea how well hulking Cup cars would race on the quarter-mile track that had been built on the floor of the coliseum, replacing the football turf.

• In the end, NASCAR had a winner.

NASCAR’s scheduling has taken some odd turns in recent years, and one of the oddest arrived in February 2022 when the Cup Series raced inside the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

The coliseum is one of the country’s most iconic event venues. It has hosted Super Bowls, World Series, the Olympics, concerts by Bruce Springsteen and the Rolling Stones and John Kennedy’s acceptance speech at the 1960 Democratic National Convention.

NASCAR stepped into that rare air Feb. 6, opening its 2022 schedule with the non-points Busch Light Clash, an annual event that was moved from its long-time home at Daytona International Speedway.

It was a gamble of sorts. Los Angeles isn’t exactly a NASCAR hotbed, and no one had any solid idea how well hulking Cup cars would race on the quarter-mile track that had been built on the floor of the coliseum, replacing the football turf. The race, which cost NASCAR more than $1 million to stage, also was the first event for the new and untested Next Gen car.

In the end, NASCAR had a winner. Joey Logano outdueled Kyle Busch to win the race, but the organization was the day’s bigger winner.

A crowd estimated at 50,000-plus turned out for the race on a sunny afternoon. NASCAR said its research indicated that about two-thirds of those in the crowd had not attended a previous NASCAR race, thus exposing the sport to a new segment of the population.

They came for more than a race. Before the main event, international musical star Armando Christian Perez (more popularly known as Pitbull) performed in a concert at one end of the coliseum. Ice Cube also was on the concert list.

Outside the coliseum, fans formed long lines to buy race and team souvenirs.

The racing wasn’t spectacular, but the format—heat races, a “last chance” race and the 150-lap feature—kept the crowd humming. There was occasional tense competition before Logano outran Busch for the win.

Austin Dillon finished third, followed by Erik Jones and Kyle Larson.

Minutes after winning, Logano called the race “a huge step in our industry, to be able to do this and put on an amazing race for everybody. The first win at the Coliseum. It’s a special one. We’re going to have some fun and celebrate it.”

The heat-race element of the event resulted in key drivers Kurt Busch, Brad Keselowski and Alex Bowman failing to make the feature.

NASCAR announced four months later than the Clash would return to the coliseum in February 2023.