NASCAR’s Clash Ready For Return To L.A. Coliseum, But Will There Be A Third Year

Let’s do this again shall we?

NASCAR is once again staging its first race of the year in a most unlikely place, though this year there is a great deal less uncertainty.

The non-points Clash exhibition race will again happen in a venue known more for football and track and field events than auto racing, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, in a city better known for celebrities and Hollywood movies, Los Angeles, California.

Last year the industry rolled the dice; took a gamble and hoped for the best. That gamble paid off nicely for the sport. Under balmy blue Southern California skies, NASCAR debuted its Next Gen car with a round of qualifying races, last chance qualifiers, and the main event. Fans in attendance were treated to world class entertainment, and those watching at home saw the optics of the downtown LA skyline and snowcapped mountains in the background.

In the end, Joey Logano reigned supreme. And when it was all over NASCAR, and Fox, who handled the TV broadcast could smile at the metrics. The race scored a 2.32 rating, with average of 4.3 million viewers peaking with 6.9 million during the race. It was not only the most watched Clash since 2016 when it was held at its traditional venue of Daytona International Speedway, but it was the most-viewed NASCAR telecast of any kind since the spring race at Talladega Superspeedway in 2021.

Considering those numbers alone, it shouldn’t be a surprise that NASCAR would choose to return once again a year later. As it turns out that return was pretty much a forgone conclusion even before the race last year.

“Going into the event last year, we kind of knew that we would be back,” said Patrick Rogers, NASCAR’s vice president of marketing services. He added that the metrics solidified that return, as did the more subjective stats that started the momentum of what turned out to be a very successful 2022 season: “The enthusiasm of the market, the enthusiasm of our industry was at an all-time high going into the season,” Rogers said.

According to attendance stats, 70% of those who went to last year’s Clash had never been to a NASCAR race before.

“So, it kind of achieved what we wanted, right?” Rogers said. “Let’s build a track where the fans are, and hopefully they’ll come to us, which they did. And then after the on-track product, it was super exciting and the entertainment, we knew instantly after that race we wanted to be back.”

Going into last year’s event there were a great many unknowns; how the track would be laid out, where the garage area would be, and where everyone would park. NASCAR worked with the staff at the Coliseum, led by general manager Joe Furin, to iron out all the complexities.

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“Their group is really good at putting on large events,” Rogers said. “That’s what they do, and NASCAR is as well. So you merge those two groups together and we were able to troubleshoot and figure it out.”

That made getting ready for this year’s event a bit easier.

“I won’t call it plug and play,” Rogers said. “But certainly, a lot of those things that were the unknowns are a little bit easier this time around. We knew what adjustments we needed to make to make those things easier.”

But not everything was smooth leading into this year. In the past few weeks, the state of California has seen huge amounts of rain and though weather is forecast to be clear this weekend, the past few weeks challenged NASCAR and those getting the stadium ready. Rogers said that the weather did cost them a couple of days, but the track is down and ready to go.

The anxiety for everyone staging the event last year was tremendous given all the unknowns: new cars, a new track, and new fans in attendance. Rogers said they were busy from the time the gates opened until the racing ended. He hopes this year he will get a chance to sit back and watch the entertainment which includes Wiz Khalifa and Cypress Hill, and of course the racing.

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“But, you know, it’s a little less for me, it’s more for the fans that are there and for those tuning in,” Rogers said. “We’ve got an incredible show lined up for them.”

Thanks to last year’s success, NASCAR has added more partners and several sponsors from last year have increased their presence. The pre-race Fan Fest has expanded, and Coca-Cola
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has worked with NASCAR to create a standing room only section for college students on the Coliseum’s iconic peristyle steps.

All indications are that this year’s event will be at least as successful as the first one.

“Last year we were able to break through in that market, which already has a lot of noise, but had a Super Bowl in that same market the very next week,” Rogers said. “This year not battling that as much. So we’re kind the big show coming into town, enthusiasm is high. Ticket sales are great.”

Rogers said that so far this year, 50% of those buying tickets didn’t attend last year’s inaugural event.

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“There were probably some fence sitters out there, like, ‘I don’t know what it’s all about’” he said. “But they saw all the hype and probably were disappointed they missed it, so they made sure to get those tickets as soon as they had the opportunity.”

Even before it’s over the question is already being asked: What about next year? Will NASCAR once again return to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum? Could the Clash be moved elsewhere or will we in fact be doing this again?

“That’s a good question,” Rogers said. “The event last year kind of gave us a bit of a blueprint print of what could be done.

“The one thing about this particular event and the timing of it. You know, when it is, you kind of get a little bit restricted on where you can be from a weather perspective; the LA market being a little bit safer.

“I think you have to have at least a quarter mile size track. I think if you were to try to get any smaller than that, it might be challenging. The Coliseum i’s not purpose-built for football, it was purpose-built for more track and field, so it affords you a little bit more space versus, you know, like I’ll say a SoFi or Texas Stadium.

“Not to say we couldn’t do it. But you know the Coliseum just provides a little bit more space to do those type of things.”

Rogers said after the event they will conduct a survey and get feedback from fans.

“All those things will weigh into a decision,” he said. “And then we’ll make some sort of decision a few months after the event. But you know, again, for this year it made total sense to go back. I’m thrilled that we’re going back. It’s a fun project to be a part of because you get to do things a little differently than you normally would.

“We’ll take a peek at it once it’s over and we’ll keep everyone in suspense for a few months and then let you know.”