CUP Series Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum

NASCAR CUP Series

Entry List

Busch Light Clash at The Coliseum

Sunday, February 6th, 2022

Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, CA

  • 15 Chevrolet
  • 15 Ford
  • 6 Toyota

  • Sunday, February 6th, 2022
  • NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer
Joey Logano holds off Kyle Busch to win memorable Busch Light Clash in Los Angeles

At the end of a transformative NASCAR experience that took the City of Angels by storm, Joey Logano held off hard-charging pole winner Kyle Busch to triumph in Sunday's Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum.

Logano got the lead on Lap 116, moments before Kyle Larson retaliated against Justin Haley for earlier contact that was not of Haley's doing. Larson steered toward the bottom of the track, knocking Haley's Chevrolet into the concrete Jersey barrier on the frontstretch.

In the competitive debut of the Next Gen race car, Logano had control of the race for the restart on Lap 117 and held the top spot to the finish, with Busch frustrated in pursuit on the quarter-mile track built for the NASCAR Cup Series event in iconic Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum as part of NASCAR's daring foray into downtown L.A.

"I can't believe it," Logano exulted after the race. "We're here. The L.A. Coliseum. We got the victory with the old Shell/Pennzoil Mustang. This is an amazing event. Congratulations, NASCAR. Such a huge step in our industry to be able to do this, put on an amazing race for everybody.

"I'm out of breath. I was so excited about this. This is a big win. My wife is having a baby tomorrow, our third one, so a pretty big weekend for us."

It was an exhibition race—but what an exhibition. Rapper Pitbull, who co-owns Trackhouse Racing with Justin Marks, warmed up the crowd with a 45-minute set before the green flag. At the halfway break in the 150-lap event, crews changed tires and made adjustments to the Next Gen cars as rapper Ice Cube filled the Coliseum with loud, rhythmic music.

A pantheon of California sports stars—among them former Southern Cal tailback Reggie Bush and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts—joined NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon in a corps of grand marshals and shouted the command to start engines.

The race itself crystallized into a battle between Logano, Busch, Larson and Austin Dillon. After the final restart, Larson briefly took second from Busch, who regained the spot with more than 20 laps left and charged after Logano.

"I was being perfect doing everything I needed to do—keep the tires underneath me," said Busch, who led a race-high. "When I got close, I was like, ‘OK, I've got to try more and pounce at an opportunity,' and just overheated the tires and smoked them in three laps and that was it. Disappointing, obviously.

"Come out here and win the pole, and lead laps, run up front. The finish goes green and it's not chaotic and we can't win, so it sucks. Congratulations to my son (Brexton Busch) – he won yesterday. That's cool. I was trying to match him. He's winning more than me these days, so somebody better send him a contract."

Dillon passed Larson to finish third, and Erik Jones ran fourth after overtaking the reigning Cup Series champion in the closing laps. Larson held fifth, as William Byron, Cole Custer, Christopher Bell, AJ Allmendinger and Kevin Harvick completed the top 10.

Busch earned the pole position for the main event with a wire-to-wire victory in Sunday's first heat race, with Daniel Suarez, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Ryan Blaney joining him in the Clash as the second-, third- and fourth-place finishers.

Blaney used his bumper to shove past Denny Hamlin to claim the final transfer spot from the opening heat.

In fact, drivers who started first won all four heat races, with no one else leading a lap. Tyler Reddick dominated Heat 2—winning by a full straightaway—as Chase Briscoe, Dillon and Custer qualified behind him.

Driving for Kaulig Racing's newly minted NASCAR Cup Series team, Haley took the third heat, with Byron, Bell and Chase Elliott joining him in the main event. In Heat 4, Logano and Larson ran 1-2, with defending Daytona 500 winner Michael McDowell and Jones taking the final two transfer positions.

Hamlin made the Clash by winning the first of two Last Chance Qualifiers, with Harvick and Allmendinger finishing second and third to advance.

If the first LCQ was relatively tame by short-track standards, the second was utter chaos. After hitting everything but the lottery, as FOX broadcaster Mike Joy put it, Ty Dillon took the checkered flag but was demoted to the rear for jumping the final restart with three of the 50 laps left.

That gave Ryan Preece the race win and the final two transfer spots to Bubba Wallace and Harrison Burton, who was spun while leading on Lap 47.

The second LCQ featured seven cautions and saw strong contenders Kurt Busch and Alex Bowman eliminated when their cars sustained irreparable damage.

  • Drivers Entered: 36
  • Laps Scheduled: 150
  • Margin of Victory: 0.877 Seconds
  • Time of Race: 0 Hours 57 Minutes 39 Seconds
  • Average Speed: 39.029
  • Cautions: 5 for laps
  • Lead Changes: 5
  • Green Flag Passes: 313 (2.1 passes per green flag lap)

  • Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
  • Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum
  • Race Winner: Joey Logano
  • Age: 31
  • Team : No. 22 - Shell Pennzoil Ford
  • Owner: Roger Penske
  • Crew Chief: Paul Wolfe
  • Joey Logano is one of 24 different drivers to win the Busch Light Clash (1979-2022).
  • This is Joey Logano's second Busch Light Clash victory (2017 Daytona, 2022 L.A. Memorial Coliseum), he becomes the 12th different driver to win multiple Clash races.
  • This is Team Penske's fifth Busch Light Clash victory.
  • This is the 10th time Ford has won the Busch Light Clash.
  • Today's event had five lead changes among three leaders: Kyle Busch (64), Tyler Reddick (51), Joey Logano (35).
  • Kyle Busch (second) has finished runner-up in the Busch Light Clash twice (2017 Daytona, 2022 LA Memorial Coliseum)
Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Los Angeles, California - February 4, 2022 : A view of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum prior to the NASCAR Cup Series Busch Light Clash.
Jared C TiltonGetty Images
Busch Light Clash at The Coliseum at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Entry List
ENTRY # DRIVER HOMETOWN DOB AGE MAKE SPONSOR TEAM CREW CHIEF
1 16 AJ Allmendinger Los Gatos, CA Dec 16, 1981 42 Chevrolet chevyliners.com Kaulig Racing Matt Swiderski
2 10 Aric Almirola Tampa, FL Mar 14, 1984 40 Ford Farmer John Stewart-Haas Racing Drew Blickensderfer
3 6 Brad Keselowski Auburn Hills, MI Feb 12, 1984 40 Ford Violet Defense RFK Racing Matt McCall
4 11 Denny Hamlin Chesterfield, VA Nov 18, 1980 43 Toyota FedEx Express Joe Gibbs Racing Chris Gabehart
5 22 Joey Logano Middleton, CT May 24, 1990 34 Ford Shell Pennzoil Team Penske Paul Wolfe
6 4 Kevin Harvick Bakersfield, CA Dec 8, 1975 48 Ford Busch Light Stewart-Haas Racing Rodney Childers
7 45 Kurt Busch Las Vegas, NV Aug 4, 1978 46 Toyota Monster Energy 23XI Racing Billy Scott
8 18 Kyle Busch Las Vegas, NV May 2, 1985 39 Toyota M&M's Joe Gibbs Racing Seth Chavka
9 19 Martin Truex Jr Mayetta, NJ Jun 29, 1980 44 Toyota Bass Pro Shops Joe Gibbs Racing James Small
10 34 Michael McDowell Phoenix, AZ Dec 21, 1984 39 Ford Love's Travel Stops Front Row Motorsports Blake Harris
11 77 Landon Cassill Cedar Rapids, IA Jul 7, 1989 35 Chevrolet Voyager: Crypto for All Spire Motorsports Kevin Bellicourt
12 3 Austin Dillon Lewisville, NC Apr 27, 1990 34 Chevrolet True Velocity Richard Childress Racing Justin Alexander
13 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr Olive Branch, MS Oct 2, 1987 37 Chevrolet Food 4 Less JTG Daugherty Racing Brian Pattie
14 5 Kyle Larson Sacremento, CA Jul 31, 1992 32 Chevrolet HendrickCars.com Hendrick Motorsports Cliff Daniels
15 48 Alex Bowman Tuscon, AZ Apr 25, 1993 31 Chevrolet Ally Hendrick Motorsports Greg Ives
16 12 Ryan Blaney High Point, NC Dec 31, 1993 30 Ford Menards / Great Lakes Flooring Team Penske Jonathan Hassler
17 7 Corey Lajoie Kannapolis, NC Sep 25, 1991 33 Chevrolet NationsGuard Spire Motorsports Ryan Sparks
18 42 Ty Dillon Lewisville, NC Feb 27, 1992 32 Chevrolet Black Rifle Coffee Company Petty GMS Motorsports Joey Cohen
19 9 Chase Elliott Dawsonville, GA Nov 28, 1995 28 Chevrolet NAPA Auto Parts Hendrick Motorsports Alan Gustafson
20 17 Chris Buescher Prosper, TX Oct 29, 1992 31 Ford Fastenal RFK Racing Scott Graves
21 43 Erik Jones Byron, MI May 30, 1996 28 Chevrolet FOCUSfactor Petty GMS Motorsports Dave Elenz
22 78 BJ McLeod Wauchula, FL Nov 17, 1983 40 Ford SkyView Partners Live Fast Motorsports Lee Leslie
23 15 Ryan Preece Berlin, CT Oct 25, 1990 33 Ford Jacob Companies Rick Ware Racing Tommy Baldwin Jr
24 99 Daniel Suarez Monterrey, Mexico Jan 7, 1992 32 Chevrolet Freeway Insurance TrackHouse Racing Travis Mack
25 51 Cody Ware Greensboro, NC Nov 7, 1995 28 Ford Nurtec ODT Rick Ware Racing Billy Plourde
26 1 Ross Chastain Alva, FL Dec 4, 1992 31 Chevrolet Howler Head TrackHouse Racing Phil Surgen
27 23 Bubba Wallace Mobile, AL Oct 8, 1993 31 Toyota Door Dash 23XI Racing Bootie Barker
28 24 William Byron Charlotte, NC Nov 29, 1997 26 Chevrolet Valvoline Hendrick Motorsports Rudy Fugle
29 41 Cole Custer Ladera Ranch, CA Jan 23, 1998 26 Ford HaasTooling.com Stewart-Haas Racing Mike Shiplett
30 8 Tyler Reddick Corning, CA Jan 11, 1996 28 Chevrolet Guaranteed Rate Richard Childress Racing Randall Burnett
31 31 Justin Haley Winamac, IN Apr 28, 1999 25 Chevrolet LeafFilter Gutter Protection Kaulig Racing Trent Owens
32 20 Christopher Bell Norman, OK Dec 16, 1994 29 Toyota Sirius XM Joe Gibbs Racing Adam Stevens
33 2 Austin Cindric Columbus, OH Sep 2, 1998 26 Ford eCascadia Team Penske Jeremy Bullins
34 14 Chase Briscoe Mitchell, IN Dec 15, 1994 29 Ford Mahindra Tractors Stewart-Haas Racing Johnny Klausmeier
35 21 Harrison Burton Huntersville, NC Oct 9, 2000 24 Ford Motorcraft / Quick Lane Wood Brothers Racing Brian Wilson
36 38 Todd Gilliland Sherrills Ford, NC May 15, 2000 24 Ford First Phase Front Row Motorsports Seth Barbour