NASCAR IS BACK!

     One of the most talked about events on the NASCAR calendar is finally here. The race that finally opens up the 2024 schedule after another long offseason. It’s time for the Clash at the Colosseum. A race around a created quarter mile bull ring at LA Memorial Colosseum. This is a non points race that annually kicks off the NASCAR season, right before the Daytona 500 that is.

     The race originally ran at Daytona, but after years of the rather short race around the high banks turning into a test session that then changed into a crash fest at the end, along with attendance issues and attempts to revamp the event at Daytona, Nascar decided to take the event out west to not only revamp but get into a new fan market. So far I think the idea has worked as it has delivered a much needed spark and boost to the event the last two years. This weekend is year 3 at the Colosseum and now instead of just the clash, the Nascar Mexico Series will be there as well.

      For starters this race is the first chance to see any on track activity in Cup cars since the championship race in November. This is also the first race for a few driver team combos such as Josh Williams with Kaulig, and Carson Hocevar and Spire. This will be the first race to see the new bumper designs on Toyota and Ford in action as well. This will also be the first time that this venue will host 2 NASCAR Series ever since the event moved to this venue so while it’s year 3, it is certainly a year of firsts.

     Now let’s get into some of the storylines about the race itself. We have Martin Truex Jr looking to repeat his Clash win from last year, in hopes of turning around what was a promising start, but disappointing finish to his 2023 campaign. The RCR teammates of Kyle Busch and Austin Dillion both have yet to finish outside of the top 3 in this event so I predict those two to have a say in this race. Bubba Wallace and Ryan Preece are too more guys I have my eyes on for this weekend as both of those guys looked strong last year before getting into incidents. This is once again a stacked field however the field size has shrunk from last years 27 to 23. This is the smallest number of cars in the main event since moving to LA.

   The NASCAR Mexico Series will race there as well with 22 entries. One of which is Cup Series driver Daniel Suarez, who has experience, and even a championship running the NASCAR Mexico series. This event as explained by him in a NASCAR on FOX interview is just as big to him as the Daytona 500. It certainly does have that feel from my standpoint as far as the Mexico Series getting to race with the highest series in NASCAR, the cup series.

     The format this year is as followed . Top 5 from each heat move on. Everyone else moves to LCQ where top 2 then advance. The last spot will be determined by points.  The heats are 25 laps and the LCQ is 75 laps. Heat lineups are determined by fastest speed in final practice as each group of drivers will get 3 sessions. Mexico series will have just practice and qualifying. All practice and qualifying and heat racing will take place on Saturday, while on Sunday it will be the NASCAR Mexico race (150 laps) at 4:30 EST on FS1. That race will then be followed by the LCQ (75 laps) at 6:40 ET on Fox followed by the Clash (150 laps) at 8 EST on Fox.

    Unfortunately with how things look, I believe Mother Nature may have a big influence to how smoothly this weekend goes, as severe weather is expected for Sunday and even Monday. Safe to say NASCAR is officially back in that aspect, but I hope a window does open to where we can get some action in. The cup cars do have a wet weather package that can be used as long as it isn’t actively raining and as long as there isn’t much spray being left from the cars.

   With that being said, I hope everyone enjoys the weekend and enjoys the return of NASCAR. I’ll be back with a review of the weekend but until then, peace.

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