The NASCAR drivers got their first chance to race the Next Gen cars in competition yesterday (2/6) in the Clash at the Coliseum in Los Angeles.
The LA Coliseum was paved and turned into a quarter-mile track for this exhibition race for the NASCAR Cup Series. The drivers were not racing for points. They were racing for their share of around $1.9 million and bragging rights of being the only NASCAR driver to win a race at the LA Coliseum.
Joey Logano won the race. See the complete race results for the Clash at the Coliseum here.
The Clash has only been run at Daytona International Speedway prior to this year. It took place for 42 years on the 2.5-mile superspeedway and one year on the road course at Daytona last year. I was excited to see what would happen the top NASCAR division raced on a small quarter-mile track. To be honest I was underwhelmed.
There wasn’t enough room for the drivers to really get to racing from what I saw. There was some beating and banging. However, at such slow speeds and the smaller track really made everything seem like it was in slow motion. I was easily distracted while watching the race. I don’t blame NASCAR for trying something new. I would just suggest against doing it again on a track that small.
It was interesting to see the Next Gen cars. The new placement of the numbers on the sides makes the cars look longer. The single-center lug nut on the tires makes the tires look wrong because of decades of seeing multiple lug nuts on the cars. It will be very interesting to see how this changes pit-stops when they are in a race that has them in two weeks.
What do you think? Did you like the NASCAR race on a quarter-mile track?
By: Buck Stevens
