Pole-sitter Denny Hamlin won the NASCAR Cup Series Busch Light Clash at The Coliseum Saturday evening, run a day earlier than planned because of a dangerous rainstorm expected to land in Los Angeles Sunday.
Hamlin grabbed the lead on restart on the 141st lap of the planned 150-lap race and was yards away from winning when his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Ty Gibbs, spun off the bumper of Kyle Larson’s HendrickCars.com Chevrolet to bring out the seventh caution and force a two-lap overtime.
Busch restarted behind Hamlin in the overtime, but Hamlin pulled away to a lead of nearly two car lengths, and finished 0.61 of a second ahead of Busch for his fourth victory in the season-opening non-points exhibition event, the most among active drivers, and first at the Coliseum, where it has been run annually since 2022 on a temporary, quarter-mile asphalt track.
“It’s so chaotic, the restarts, with everyone just bumping and banging, but feels great to win here in L.A.,” said Hamlin, who also won in 2006, 2014 and 2016 at the Daytona International Speedway, where it was held from its the inception in 1979 until 2021.
There were seven cautions, nine fewer than last year, and two more than in 2022. Only laps run under a green flag counted.
Busch said he “felt like the first half we were better, had a better car. We were better than the 11 (Hamlin), but some of the adjustments we made weren’t as good, some of the adjustments they made were better. All in all, just glad to have a good night.
“Glad to come out here in one piece, even with all the bumping and banging and everything else that happens.”
Busch finished second in the 2022 race at the Coliseum and third in 2023.
“I wish I was better, to tell you the truth,” Busch said. “Second, third — second kind of hurts. I don’t know what it really is. It’s just tight nature, tight bullring kind of stuff, the things we all grow up doing with legends cars, late models, all that.
“Always kind of enjoy getting back to those every once in a while whenever I can. Last year I remember I went up to New Hampshire and ran a late model race at a big quarter, small three-eighths mile racetrack and finished second there, too. This second stuff sucks.”
Ryan Blaney finished third in his Menards/Great Lakes Flooring Ford after starting last in the field of 23.
“Our group was pretty slow,” Blaney said. “I guess we just couldn’t go so we were lucky we got in the race.”
Joey Logano, the 2022 winner, finished fourth and Larson fifth.
There were 12 drivers on the lead lap when the race ended.
Gibbs, the 2023 NASCAR Rookie of the Year and 21-year-old grandson of Joe Gibbs Racing owner and Pro Football Hall of Fame member Joe Gibbs, finished 18th.
Logano, who started second, was the leader through the first two laps. Hamlin led from the third through 49th laps. Gibbs took the lead in the 50th lap. Brad Keselowski took the lead following a restart on the 71st lap, but Logano regained the lead on the following lap.
Gibbs regained the lead following the restart on the 78th lap and remained in first until the 141st lap.
Hamlin completed the race in one hour, eight minutes, 46 seconds at an average speed of 32.937 mph.
The victory was Joe Gibbs Racing’s series-leading 12th Busch Light Clash win and second in a row. Martin Truex Jr. was last year’s winner. He finished ninth Saturday.
Plans to determine the starting positions with heat races and a last chance qualifying race Saturday were canceled.
Instead, starting positions were determined by the fastest 22 speeds in the final practice with the 23rd position based on 2023 driver points among drivers who had not earned a spot in the field through their practice time.
The rescheduling cost the race some of its off-track star power.
Rapper Machine Gun Kelly was to perform during the race break; super middleweight boxing champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez was to be the clash’s grand marshal, giving drivers the command to start their engines; and two-time Olympic gold medal-winning runner Athing Mu was to be the honorary torch lighter, but none fulfilled those roles.
NASCAR announced the rescheduling Saturday afternoon, issuing a statement thanking Coliseum and public safety officials “for their partnership and support to make the schedule adjustment for tonight’s event to ensure a safe experience for fans, competitors and staff.”
NASCAR told fans, “We understand weather conditions may worsen as the day progresses, so we encourage fans to make decisions in the best interest of safety.”
Admission was free as it was to be for the heat races that had been planned for Saturday.
NASCAR said officials would contact ticketholders in the days ahead on the “next steps to accommodate for the unprecedented impact on this event.”
Pre-paid Sunday parking purchased though ParkWhiz will be fully refunded.
Daniel Suarez won the NASCAR Mexico Series’ King Taco LA Batalla en El Coliseo which followed the Busch Light Clash.