Joey Lagano got around Kyle Busch to become the first ever winner at the Los Angeles Coliseum.
Logano took the lead of the 150-lap race after a halfway break and won by 0.877 seconds in his No. 22 Ford over the No. 18 Toyota of Busch on the temporary short track that was constructed over the field at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
Austin Dillon finished third, followed by Erik Jones and Kyle Larson. William Byron, Cole Custer, Christopher Bell, AJ Allmendinger and Kevin Harvick rounded out the top 10.
NASCAR experiment worked in every way posable. Not only did 60,000 plus fans show up to the Clash, but of those fans, over 70% were first time fans to a NASCAR race.
NASCAR has until May 2022 to decide if they want to return to the LA Coliseum for 2023 and 2024.
Kyle Busch lead the field to green On lap 54, Denny Hamlin was the first car out of the Clash with a power steering pump issue during the first caution for a Ricky Stenhouse Jr. spin. Then during the pace laps for the first caution, Chase Briscoe and Tyler Reddick both had issues with the drive train and pulled off the track.
On lap 65, Chase Elliott spins after wheel hoping into turn 3 and slapped the outside wall.
Right before the halfway point break, Logano get around Kyle Busch for the lead but not before the yellow flag flew, so Busch kept the lead as the car pulled off track for the halftime concert.
Kyle Busch held the lead on the restart, with 35 laps to go, Ryan Blaney pulled off track after contact with the 43. Blaney would jump out of the car and throw his helmet and HANS at the 43. Nothing like Saturday night short track racin.
Restart on lap 116 saw the 16 and 5 make contact, Larson got back into the 16 and sent him hard into the inside wall just past the start finish line.
“He brake-checked me off (Turn) 4 for no real reason,” Jones told Little about his contact with Blaney. “I didn’t really appreciate that and showed it on the track. We have a conversation. It’s an exhibition race and we’re doing what we can. I was frustrated with the move he made.
“But overall thought the Chevy was really good. Just a good weekend, come home fourth for us. We were just talking, it doesn’t mean a lot for the setups for the rest of the season, but nobody came out here not trying. It feels good to run good. Hopefully, we can carry that momentum to Daytona.”
Kaulig Racing rookie Justin Haley also was displeased with Kyle Larson after being shoved into the inside wall by the series champion, heavily damaging the left front of Haley’s No. 31 Chevrolet.
“I’m not impressed with that move,” Haley told Fox Sports. “It’s hard to be a rookie and gain respect. I don’t know. It’s kind of BS but glad we had a fast car. Not everyone knows who we are yet.”
The racing was even wilder earlier in the heats and qualifying races that resulted in the elimination of Kurt Busch, Brad Keselowski and Alex Bowman among some big names who failed to advance to the main event.
