The second edition of NASCAR’s Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum will be held Sunday, an unlikely mix of stock car racing, music and celebrity.
Cypress Hill will perform before the main event, while fellow Grammy-nominated hip-hop artist Wiz Khalifa will perform at the race break.
“The NASCAR cars will bring the noise, and I’ll bring the party,” Khalifa said.
The Olympic cauldron atop the Coliseum is expected to be lit following Khalifa’s performance.
The electronic music DJ trio Cheat Codes will perform during the caution breaks and join with social media personality Dixie D’Amelio for a performance of “I’ll Remember.”
Actor Rob Lowe will be the race’s grand marshal, saying “Drivers, start your engines.” USC’s Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Caleb Williams will be the honorary starter, waving the green flag for the main event.
The field for the 150-lap main event on the quarter-mile, asphalt oval has been expanded to 27 cars, four more than last year. The top five finishers in each of the four 25-lap heat races will advance to the main event, as will the top three finishers in either of the two 50-lap last chance qualifier races.
The final position in the main event is reserved for the driver who finished the highest in the 2022 Cup Series season point standings who did not qualify for the main event through either the heat races or last chance qualifier races.
Each of Saturday’s four fastest qualifiers will start from the pole in Sunday’s 10-car heat races.
Justin Haley posted the fastest qualifying time, completing a lap in 13.413 seconds, 67.099 mph, and will start from the pole in the first heat race. Kyle Busch was the second-fastest qualifier at 66.406 mph and will start from the pole in the second heat race.
Christopher Bell was the third-fastest qualifier at 66.328 mph and will start from the pole in the third heat race. William Byron was the fourth-fastest qualifier at 66.196 mph and will start from the pole in the fourth heat race.
Busch and Bell are the co-favorites at 7-1 while Kyle Larson is the third choice at 12-1, according to BetMGM, an authorized gaming operator of NASCAR.
The heat races will begin at 2 p.m., the last chance qualifiers at 3:10 p.m. and main event shortly after 5 p.m. They will all be televised by Fox.
In a first for NASCAR, the top three finishers will be awarded gold, silver and bronze medals. The medal ceremony will take place on a podium in Victory Lane, beneath the Coliseum’s Olympic cauldron. The race winner’s medal weighs 4.7 ounces and is covered in 24-karat plated gold.
A section for college students, dubbed the “The Coca-Cola Torch Party Porch,” has been added. The standing-room-only general admission section is located on the Coliseum’s peristyle steps. Members of USC’s football and women’s soccer teams will watch the race from the section.
The annual preseason exhibition race has been held annually since 1979, always at Daytona International Speedway until last year.