NASCAR Kicks Off Season in a Football, Clash at the Coliseum + Ice Cube WILD
As we move into a new season of NASCAR, there are some pretty substantial changes on the horizon. It seems as if those behind the sport have been working incredibly hard to keep with the times and attract new eyeballs for the 2022 season.
This past weekend, some of those changes were kicked off with a massive start as NASCAR did something that it hasn’t done in decades.
Spanning just one-quarter of a mile, the racing surface that was used in the clash is unlike any that has been used in modern NASCAR. In fact, the next shortest track spans just over double the size of the track used for the 2022 season kickoff.
For fans of drag racing, they can appreciate just how small the racing surfaces had to be it essentially takes a quarter-mile drag strip and folds in half, throwing some turns in the mix as well.
Los Angeles, CA – February 06: NASCAR racer Bubba Wallace walks down the staircase to the track as he is introduced and cheered by fans at the Busch Light Clash At The Coliseum, a NASCAR exhibition race at the historic LA Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles Sunday, Feb. 6, 2022. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Oh yeah, and it’s not just two cars racing down the quarter-mile.
The field for the clash would consist of 23 cars. This was down from the normal field size but it was still a rather tight fit. The action was still intense as door-to-door racing consumed pretty much every moment of the event. It seems as if competitors weren’t able to pass one another in many cases without a little bit of rubbing.
Another big addition to the season is the completely redesigned cars. The initial response to testing of the next-gen car seems to have drivers pretty excited for the future. Dale Earnhardt Junior even went so far as saying that the next-gen “Does everything better.”
Los Angeles, CA – February 06: NASCAR racer Bubba Wallace walks down the staircase to the track as he is introduced and cheered by fans at the Busch Light Clash At The Coliseum, a NASCAR exhibition race at the historic LA Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles Sunday, Feb. 6, 2022. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Down in the video below, we check in with the race that had tempers flaring and drivers really doing some pretty crazy jockeying in order to get to the front of the pack.
NASCAR will take a week off for the Super Bowl. However, racing will resume in two weeks on February 20th as we watch the 63rd annual running of the Daytona 500.
Full Concert: Ice Cube performs at NASCAR’s Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum.
