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 regained the lead from Ty Gibbs on a restart on the 141st lap and remained in the lead on the 150th lap, which was supposed to be the last. However, a caution was issued after Gibbs, who was running in fifth, spun his Monster Energy Toyota after contact from the HendrickCars.com Chevrolet driven by Kyle Larson, who was in sixth.
With race rules counting only laps run under a green flag on the temporary, quarter-mile asphalt track and the race must end under a green flag, the race concluded with a green-white-checker finish and an extra lap.
On the final restart, Hamlin led the field to the green from the inside in his Sport Clips Haircuts Toyota with Ryan Blaney second on the outside in his Menards/Great Lakes Flooring Ford and Kyle Busch in third in his Morgan & Morgan Chevrolet.
Busch moved into second after the restart, but was unable to pass Hamlin, who finished 0.61 of a second ahead of Busch to win the season-opening non-points exhibition event for the fourth time and first at the Coliseum, where it has been run annually since 2022.
The race was held annually at Daytona International Speedway from its the inception in 1979 until 2021, with Hamlin winning in 2006, 2014 and 2016.
Blaney finished third after starting last in the field of 23. Joey Logano, who won the inaugural race at the Coliseum in 2022, 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.
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 of 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.
The NASCAR Mexico Series’ King Taco LA Batalla en El Coliseo followed the Busch Light Clash.