NASCAR will waive the green flag on their 2023 season with a return to the California for the Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum. This is a special race and a special season for both the Coliseum and the NASCAR Cup Series. The Coliseum will celebrate their 100th season of hosting sporting events and the NASCAR Cup Series will celebrate their 75th season. People said running heavy stock cars inside the 0.25-mile flat track could not be done, but the inaugural race last year was a success and now the cars are back.
CLASH AT THE COLISEUM DRIVERS
Fitting 23 cars on the track made the racing look like a traffic jam on Interstate 405 outside of Hollywood. Now NASCAR will try to squeeze 27 cars onto the track. Here is a list of the drivers who will be competing in the Clash at the Coliseum Sunday…
The list of drivers above will compete in four “Heat Races.” The top-five from each Heat Race will advance to the Clash Main Race.
The drivers who do not qualify through their “Heat Races” will compete in a “Last Chance Qualifier Race.” There will be two “Last Chance Qualifier” races and the top-three from each race will advance to the Clash Main Event.
The field will be set by how the drivers finish in the “Heat Races.”
CLASH AT THE COLISEUM SCHEDULE
CLASH PRACTICE: (Saturday) 6 PM ET (FS1)
CLASH QUALIFYING (Saturday) 8:30 PM ET (FS1)
* Sets the field for the Heat Races
NASCAR RACE DAY (Sunday) 4 PM ET (FOX)
CLASH HEAT RACES (SUNDAY) 5 PM ET (FOX)
* Heat Races are 25-laps each and only green-flag laps count
** Last Chance Qualifier races are 50-laps and only green-flag laps count
NASCAR RACE DAY (SUNDAY) 7 PM (FOX)
CLASH AT THE COLISEUM MAIN RACE (SUNDAY) 8 PM ET (FOX)
CLASH AT THE COLISEUM RACE FORMAT
The Clash at the Coliseum Main Race will be 150-laps. Only green-flag laps will count in the race. There will be a half-time performance by Cypress Hill.
2022 CLASH AT THE COLISEUM RECAP
The inaugural Clash at the Coliseum last year put on a good show, but it did have some problems. Tyler Reddick had the fastest car in the field but he broke a transaxle on a restart. Chase Briscoe also, had a fast car and he broke a transaxle too. Denny Hamlin had power-steering problems. Justin Haley had a fast car but an upset Kyle Larson sent Haley into the wall, ending his race (They were racing for third-place). Ryan Blaney did not have a lot of speed or many friends on the track. Blaney was wrecked by Erik Jones.
The fastest cars in the field last year included: Tyler, Reddick, Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, Justin Haley, Chase Briscoe, Kyle Larson, William Byron, Daniel Suarez, Austin Dillon and Eric Jones (In that order).
Kyle Busch had the fastest short-run speed car (once Tyler Reddick left the race), but Joey Logano had the fastest car over the long run. It was surprising because the No. 22 car looked horrible in practice. The race had a long-run to the checkered flag and Logano was able to win the race.
CLASH AT THE COLISEUM STATS
The best way to analyze the cars in each race is to look at the Driver Rating. These stats combine all other stats to see who actually had the best cars in the race. Here are the Driver Ratings from the 2022 Clash at the Coliseum…
What is the key to winning any race? Having the fastest car in the race is a good place to start. Here is the Average Green Flag Speed for the 2022 Clash at the Coliseum…
Short track racing is not all about speed. Drivers must know how to past other cars in order to make their way to the front. There is an art to passing cars on a 0.25-mile track. Here are the drivers who passed the most cars in the 2022 Clash at the Coliseum…
These stats will be a good starting point for choosing your drivers for your DraftKings lineups this weekend.
I will post my DraftKings picks after the qualifying races Sunday (I need to know where each driver starts the race so I can determine dominator points and place differential points for each driver).
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