NASCAR’s exhibition race moving to the LA Memorial Coliseum in 2022
NASCAR’s 2022 season will open with a spectacle even before it officially starts. The Clash will be held at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Feb. 6 at a purpose-built short track for the 2022 pre-season exhibition event. Next Gen cars will make their debut then.
The Coliseum, home to the University of Southern California football team, is located near downtown Los Angeles and has hosted multiple Summer Olympic Games, but this will be the first NASCAR race held inside the iconic multi-purpose sports stadium since it opened in 1923.
“Los Angeles is synonymous with major sports and entertainment events, so we seized an innovative opportunity to showcase NASCAR at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum,” NASCAR senior vice president of strategy and innovation Ben Kennedy said in a statement. “We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to take center stage in this market as we get our 2022 season underway.”
NASCAR will construct a temporary, quarter-mile, asphalt racetrack for the event, which for the first time will move to a location other than than Daytona International Speedway. The official season-opening Cup race, the Daytona 500, will be held two weeks later at its typical Florida venue. NASCAR is also expected to return to the Southern California area with a visit to Auto Club Speedway, as it has done in previous years.
The 2022 Super Bowl will also be held one week after the Clash in Los Angeles. The full 2022 NASCAR schedule is expected to be released this week.
