It’s a nice idea in theory, but replacing the football field and Olympic track for a flat quarter-mile asphalt layout may have gone too far. Especially since NASCAR will be debuting the NextGen car that produces 670 horsepower and has one hub on the wheels like IndyCar instead of traditional stock car lugnuts. It’s also NextGen safety to its finest yet, so thumbs up for driver safety.
The 2022 Busch Light Clash is going to be a mess because there’s only one groove. A quarter-mile flat track with 23 drivers crammed together is going to create lots of wrecks and lots of bad blood between a few drivers which is the type of excitement most of us love, but manufacturing wrecks with a shorter track than is used in any other modern-day race is too calculated. It’s as if NASCAR is rooting for wrecks to draw in the non-fan.
But the whole idea still has me excited for the festivities to begin after a quick winter break from NASCAR. Drop that damn green flag already!
Put on a show NASCAR, and let the boys be boys. Denny Hamlin, you have a score to settle with Alex Bowman. No points lost, slow speeds, punt him. Kevin Harvick and Chase Elliott have a past score to settle. Let’s get it on. No points, no problem. Every car is going to look like it was in a wreck anyway so nothing to save.
Qualifying between 36 drivers will take place on Saturday and then Sunday morning there will be four 10-lap stage qualifying heat races that will determine the starting order for 23 drivers. The Heat races should also produce quite a few wrecks before the 150-lap Busch Light Clash even starts.
“I have no idea what it’s going to be like,” Kyle Busch said. “Top speed is probably going to be around 60 mph and the low speed in the corners maybe 20 mph. It’s going to be action-packed. We aren’t going to be able to spread out and get away from each other. We are going to be all over the top of each other’s bumpers and doors. Double-file restarts are going to be really tight, and there’s going to be a lot of fenders bent and probably feelings hurt.”
In other words, yes, it’s going to be a mess. Lots of wrecks making it a long 150 laps.
But Busch is going to be one of the drivers to beat because he has the best record on the short tracks the Cup series races on. In 97 short track starts, Busch has 16 wins – 6 more than any other – 49 top-fives, and 5,549 laps led, all of which lead active leaders. Short-track racing is in his blood. I don’t ever think I saw him lose as a teenager on the ?-mile Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Busch also won the Busch Clash last season on the Daytona road course.
The next best short track driver statistically is Denny Hamlin with 10 wins, 40 top-fives, and 4,989 laps led between 93 starts. He opened as the +650 favorite at Caesars books but defending Cup champion Kyle Larson is now their 5-to-1 favorite after opening Larson at 12-to-1 odds. Larson had his best short track season last year and has two wins overall on them. He’s ready to go.
“I participated in several tests with the new Camaro, but last week’s test at Phoenix Raceway was my first with the car with all the changes and updates for the 2022 season,” Larson said. “The test went well, and I’m looking forward to actually racing it.”
The NextGen will produce 670 horsepower everywhere with spoiler heights changing at different tracks. No more three different types of cars like we saw the last few seasons with a 550 HP, 750 HP, and 550 HP Superspeedway set-up. Hendrick, Team Penske, and Joe Gibbs drivers should have an edge here because of spending more money to get everything perfect.
Team Penske can be thrown in that group as well in spending to be fast. Both Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney will be very good this week as long as they stay out of the muck, which there will be a lot of, but rookie Austin Cindric takes over the No. 2 Ford after Brad Keselowski left to be driver and part-owner of Roush-Fenway Racing. T’s now RFK Racing with the K being for him.
“The Clash is a new challenge for us, not only is it the first race of the season, but it’s a new race at a new track, and a completely different style of racing we’ve seen,” said Brad Keselowski who makes his first Cup start without Team Penske. To say there’s a lot of uncertainty and a lot of hype would be an understatement. When you go to a track you’ve never been to before, the most difficult thing to do is prepare for it and know what to expect. With it being my first race with RFK and our first race together, any success we can have there is going to be huge for our company.”
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