LOS ANGELES — This weekend’s Busch Light Clash at The Coliseum is NASCAR’s one-and-only event in Southern California in 2024, without a race currently on the schedule for 2025.
As bulldozers and wrecking balls continue the rapid takedown at the old California/Auto Club Speedway facility in Fontana and plans for a new to-be-determined racing facility remain unannounced, there is a very real possibility that NASCAR Cup Series racing might not return to the Southland until 2026 or even later.
“It’s sad because (Fontana) was one of my favorite race tracks and I remember going there before I ever started racing,” 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson said by phone this week.
Larson, a California native, continued: “You’re just not going to be able to have that same sort of energy or excitement at The Clash, so maybe you lose out on fans, and then when something new is built it will take some time to bring those fans back. Obviously, I’m disappointed that this is the only time we’ll be in the Southern California area.”
Meaning Sunday’s Busch Light Clash (5 p.m., Ch. 11), with all its quirks and limitations on the quarter-mile Coliseum blacktop, will somehow have to be enough to hold over local racing fans until the series returns at some future date.
“I don’t know all the details, but (Penske and NASCAR) had to do what they had to do and we just hope that something else is rebuilt or we can look to moving to another Southern California track,” Larson said.
Larson has seen the recent photos from Fontana, grandstands turned to rubble, and he has mixed emotions. That track hosted the top Cup Series from 1997 until last year.
“My first Xfinity Series win was there (and) I finished second in my first Cup race there,” Larson said. “Won a couple of Cup races there, too, and it’s a bummer to see how depressing it looks.”
Last year’s Busch Light Clash winner, Martin Truex, Jr., said the Cup series needs to be in Southern…
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