Will the Busch Light Clash Stay at the LA Coliseum for 2025 or Will It Have a New Venue?

The 2024 season has instilled a sense of curiosity within the NASCAR community. With ending contracts, driver moves, and sponsorship affairs hogging the limelight, one situation that has developed is around the unofficial season opener, the Busch Light Clash. The annual pre-season exhibition race has been a tradition since 1982. The LA Coliseum has hosted it since 2022. However, 2024 will be the final year of the 3-year contract with the California venue.

It implies that NASCAR could be searching for options for new hosts of the Clash. Moving out of LA Coliseum in 2025 is not something that NASCAR will be forced to do either. A contract extension could also be on the cards, but if not, let us look at some venues that would welcome the Clash with open arms.

Potential venues that could succeed the LA Coliseum

• Auto Club Speedway: The renovated track in Fontana could emerge as a suitable candidate. Located amidst the beautiful foothills of the Southern California mountains, the track has enough history and scenery to organize a blockbuster event. With a new surface in the works, the short track could also be a spot for high-octane and close-quarter racing. One hindrance at Fontana would be the uncertainty of a timeline. The track is currently under construction, and there is no possible way of knowing an estimated completion date
• Notre Dame Stadium: The rich motorsports culture of Indiana is host to the beautiful. The stadium allows the drivers to entertain the speed-loving crowds of Indiana. The stadium hosted an event of this stature a few years ago when it hosted the NHL Winter Classic. Usually occupied by the Fighting Irish football team, NASCAR could attempt to organize an event at the famed arena.

NASCAR could explore another Southern California track.

• Rose Bowl: Usually a host to annual college football events, the venue would have to be facilitated with a temporary race track every February for an agreement to happen. Besides that, its location beside the San Gabriel Mountains makes it a scenic NASCAR race track where the drivers would be tempted to race. However, its size could be problematic, as there is little space to build a track around the football field.

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• Michigan Stadium: Fondly known as ‘The Big House’, this venue has a bustling atmosphere throughout the sporting season. Home to the Michigan Wolverines, the Detroit-based stadium has been a lucrative attraction for motorsport fanatics. With a seating capacity of more than 107,000, the Big House can supply an electric crowd to an electric clash. Racing at the world’s second-largest football stadium in the world will surely be an unforgettable experience for the drivers.
• Percival Molson Memorial Stadium: Located in Montreal, NASCAR has been trying to organize a race here for a long time. Usually filled with Canadian Football League team Alouettes and its followers, the stadium can aid NASCAR’s attempt at expanding its reach to the North American neighbors. With the Mount Royal in the background, the race could be an immersive feeling for the fans and the drivers alike.
• Rockingham Speedway: Known as ‘The Rock’, this track is held on a high pedestal by drivers and fans alike. While younger fans might need to be more familiar with the track’s importance to NASCAR, it has hosted some of the most iconic races in history. The venue has witnessed February races earlier, and the weather might suit the Next-Gen cars to race on it. However, Rockingham can also be cold at times during February races leading to dampened tracks, eventually making racing difficult. Other than that, it is one of the most convincing race tracks for the Clash.

While crowd control, ease of access and appeasing the fanbase are the important factors that NASCAR will consider when moving out of the Coliseum, the tracks mentioned above do seem like they might have the potential to perform up to the level of the LA Coliseum due to their cultural importance in history.

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With only one year left to announce a successor for the event, the question remains: will NASCAR be willing to move out of Los Angeles? And if so, will they be able to replicate their Coliseum strategy of balancing their older and younger generation fans simultaneously?