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Before the 2022 NASCAR season gets underway at the Daytona 500 in a few weeks, the sport's best drivers will put on a show for both diehard fans and newcomers in the inaugural Busch Light Clash at the LA Coliseum on February 6.
Originally conceived simply as the Busch Clash in 1979 and reinvented under various names since then, the annual event is a sort of appetizer to get fans ready for the upcoming season before moving onto the main course of the Daytona 500 (with the Duels coming between both events and serving as a way to officially set the field for the Great American Race).
Since its inception in 1979, the Busch Clash has been held at the 2.5-mile Daytona International Raceway; however, the NASCAR brass felt that a change was in order, so the sport's governing body decided to shift the event to a new location for 2022. The site chosen was the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, home to the playing field of college football's USC Trojans.
Race fans reacted to the news with a mix of excitement and trepidation, ready for a new change of scenery but at the same time wondering just how stock cars would get around without hitting each other.
When they finally saw what the track would look like, reactions were across the board. Some expressed their disdain quite clearly:
Other fans, to put it simply, couldn't wait for the show:
Another asked the sensible question of how cars would pit, considering the track layout could be compared more to Bristol's confines than the wide-open spaces of Daytona, with an equally sensible answer of "just think of it as a short/dirt track":
Fans may have as many varied opinions as Kyle Busch has paint schemes for his car, but after the Busch Clash ends, no one will be able to deny that they didn't get their money's worth.
NASCAR and the WWE meet at Daytona
No one could have predicted this kind of meetup, but that's precisely what happened after Chase Elliot won his first Cup Series championship in 2020. WWE SmackDown champions the Street Profits gave Elliot their title belt when the three met up at Daytona International Raceway in February 2021, even posing for a picture together.
