NASCAR’s 76th Cup Series season gets underway in less than a month, starting with the non-points-paying Busch Light Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, set for February 3-4, followed by the biggest race of the Cup Series year, the 66th Daytona 500 February 18.
This year’s Busch Light Clash has a new schedule and race format, as it coincides with a NASCAR Mexico Series event at the same venue. The Cup Series format will have three practice groups getting three opportunities on the track. Each competitor’s fastest lap from their final practice session determines the starting lineup for the heat races.
Each of four heat races, consisting of 25 laps each, will be counted only on green flag laps. There is no overtime in play. The top five from each heat race advances directly to The Clash main event. Cars not transferring automatically compete in a Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ) race; starting positions are determined by where they finished in their respective heat races. The LCQ is 75 laps with only green flag laps counted and, again, no overtime is in play. The top two finishers in the LCQ transfer to The Clash.
The main event features 23 drivers competing for 150 laps, with only green flag laps counted. The race must end under green and a timed break is observed – as it has been in the first two Busch Light Clash at The Coliseum events – at the close of the 75th lap. Forty entrants were eligible to compete in this event; 36 driers are entered, which means 13 don’t get to perform on Sunday.
The lineup for this year’s third Busch Light Clash at The Coliseum will be determined by finishing positions in the heat races and the LCQ. With 23 starting positions available, only the final, 23rd spot is reserved for the driver who finished highest in the 2023 season drier points standings who didn’t already transfer.
There’s a bit of driver movement since the 2023, 75th anniversary NASCAR Cup Series season ended. It was last July that Justin Haley, 24, announced he’d be driving this year with Rick Ware Racing (RWR) in NASCAR’s Cup Series. Haley has confirmed he’ll be in the No. 51 Ford Mustang with crew chief Chris Lawson on the timing stand. Haley had been Kaulig Racing’s primary driver the past two seasons. He’ll have Kaz Grala as his teammate for 25 of the tour’s 36 points-paying races.
Jimmie Johnson, too, is solidifying his plans for the 2024 Cup Series season and continuing his affiliation with Carvana as he both drives and takes on part ownership duties at LEGACY MOTOR CLUB. The seven-time champion and 2024 NASCAR Hall of Fame class inductee intends to compete in three key races with Carvana sponsorship on his No. 84 Toyota Camry XSE: the Daytona 500, Brickyard 400 at historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the season finale on Phoenix Raceway’s mile oval.
Johnson had already indicated his race plans would include Daytona, the races at Texas Motor Speedway, Dover Motor Speedway, Kansas Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Indianapolis, Kansas Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Phoenix Raceway. He competed three times last season. That gives the legend a total of nine races on his 2024 docket and the three Carvana events will each have a different wrap to his Toyota.
Daniel Suarez, driver of Trackhouse Racing’s No. 99 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Cup Series Chevy will have extended sponsorship this year with Quaker State that includes a technical partnership. During the Busch Light Clash weekend at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Suarez will return to his roots in the NASCAR Mexico Series race that takes place Sunday, February 4. Suarez began his stock car racing career in the NASCAR Mexico Series in 2008 and is excited to return to the series that gave him his start.
Noah Gragson, who has raced in all three NASCAR touring series, signed with Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) to drive the No. 10 Ford Mustang in 2024. The 25-year-old from Las Vegas, NV is somewhat of a hot-head, a situation that’s never bothered team co-owner Tony Stewart, who’s been accused of the same issue throughout his career. Newly retired Aric Almirola was the former driver of that car. In other SHR news, Josh Berry, who was last year’s “super sub” is racing the SHR No. 4 Mustang, while the team’s such Light sponsorship has moved to Ross Chastain and Trackhouse Racing.
At Spire Motorsports, there will be few issues with energy recovery, at least for river Corey LaJoie and his NO. 7 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, who will enjoy four races with Celsius energy drink, including this weekend’s non-points-paying contest at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing’s perennial “could have been a titleholder” who is still looking for his first NASCAR Cup Series championship, has the most Busch Light Clash starts of any active full-time driver, 18, sharing that number with part-timer Jimmie Johnson, as the seven-time champ isn’t planning to race full-time in 2024. Hamlin also has three wins in this race, more than any other active driver. Kyle Busch has 17 starts, Joey Logano 15, while Martin Truex Jr. has raced in the Clash on a dozen occasions. They are the sole current racers with more than nine starts.
This weekend marks the debut of both Ford’s newest Mustang race car as well as Toyota’s Camry XSE competitor. In 2022, Joey Logano was the victor in a Ford Mustang campaigned by Team Penske; last year Martin Truex Jr. got the od in a Camry. Only Chevy’s Camaro reports to the track in a mostly unchanged manner.
NASCAR has made the extraordinary decision to open the gates of the LA Coliseum to fans of the sport for free on Saturday. This is the first time in the three-year existence of this race in Los Angeles that the sanctioning group has elected to allow fans in to witness Saturday’s activities without charge. During the past two events, in 2022 and 2023, fans have not been part of the Saturday proceedings; Ben Kennedy, NASCAR senior vice president of racing development decided to encourage local fans to see practices, qualifying and heat races, all of which take place on Saturday.
The weather could play a huge part in determining how this third Busch Light Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum unfolds. While prognosticators are currently stating that rain will fall on Thursday, before any on-track action takes place, there are murmurings of wet weather on race day. Perhaps NASCAR should look to the same “coven of witches” that guarantees the Rose Parade and Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach proceed without a drop of moisture?
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