It was like bumper cars. That’s how several NASCAR Cup Series drivers described the tight quarters and wheel-to-wheel action that occurred during Sunday’s Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum.
After 16 caution flags and more than two hours of racing during the main event inside the L.A. Memorial Coliseum, the temporary, quarter-mile track wore down the 27-driver field.
“That felt like a 400-mile race. It was forever and ever, caution, caution, caution,” said Martin Truex Jr., who gracefully survived the chaos to claim victory. “It definitely reminded me a lot of those short tracks back in those days. Not really taking each other out, just running hard, rubbing a lot and kind of getting out of shape. It was a ton of fun.”
The feeling of victory may have helped soothe the agony of the 150-lap main event for Truex, but those who came up short of the win were left with nothing but the sting.
One such driver was Stewart-Haas Racing’s Ryan Preece who fell out of the lead with 30 laps to go and finished seventh due to an electrical malfunction.
“Five laps before [Truex] caught me, it was the fuel pump going bad. I mean, what are you gonna do? You’re a sitting duck,” Preece said. “This isn’t a motor race track. It’s two drag strips and when you lose all the power, you’re just a sitting duck.”
While the inaugural running of the Clash at the Coliseum went swimmingly last year — with only five caution flags in the main event and positive feedback from drivers and fans alike — the quarter-mile track lived up to more realistic expectations this time around.
“There was a lot of chaos, a lot of mayhem and a lot of disrespect — that’s tight quarters racing at a quarter mile. What do you expect, right?” said Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch, who finished third. “We made the most of it today with going to the back, coming to the front, passing on the outside, passing on the inside and everywhere we could.”
However, the bumping and banging at the Clash started during Saturday’s practice.
Chase Briscoe and A.J. Allmendinger got into each other in the third practice session, resulting in right front-end damage to Briscoe’s No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing entry. Despite not having a backup car, Briscoe persevered to finish 15th in Sunday’s main event.
Brad Keselowski and Daniel Suarez made contact in one of Sunday’s four heat races, with Suarez hitting the No. 6 RFK Racing entry and spinning Keselowski out of a transfer position.
“It’s just bumper cars — guys that are desperate,” Keselowski said in response to the heat race incident. “We just never could get the corner. We were just really loose in both of our cars and just couldn’t turn the wheel.”
It was another stroke of misfortune for the RFK Racing team, as both Keselowski and his teammate Chris Buescher failed to qualify for the main event for a second consecutive year.
“You want to be better than that and we just weren’t,” Buescher said, echoing his teammate’s sentiments. “It’s not much like other places we go and it’s kind of like bumper cars out there in a lot of ways, but it’s still a race and we need to be more competitive.”
Despite the collective critique from his peers, Truex still had high praise to give NASCAR for bringing the Clash back into a unique space on the circuit.
“The Clash, since I’ve been doing it, it just kind of got boring. From back in the day when it was just pole winners from last year, then it was champions and then it was everybody that made the playoffs,” Truex said. “It just got all weird, and now this is really cool. It’s got its own identity, fun race, all the way out here in a cool venue that’s got a lot of history.
“I think it’s kind of got a good vibe to it now. Let’s not screw that up.”