NASCAR hits a grand slam with Busch Light Clash and new car

Optimism in the sport hasn't been this high in probably well over a decade. The wait for the new car was worth it -- and things are just going to keep going up from here!

I like, I like.

Wait, let me clarify that even more: I REALLY like!

Sure, there were a few bobbles in Sunday’s Busch Light Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (including in the four heat races and the two last chance qualifying races), but for the most part, the official debut of the Next Generation/Gen 7 NASCAR Cup race car was a big success, in my opinion.

After nearly three years of development – including an extra year due to the COVID-19 pandemic – the new car is something NASCAR should rightfully be proud of.

And if what we saw Sunday was just a sample, wait until teams really get an even better handle on the nuances of the new car as we get further and further into the 2022 Cup schedule.

Granted, Sunday’s race was a non-points event, an exhibition race. The real test will be in two weeks, February 20th to be exact, in the season-opening Daytona 500.

But with what we saw on the shortest track NASCAR has raced on in decades – only a quarter-mile in length – in Los Angeles on Sunday, it really whets the appetite for what potentially may happen at Daytona and on the sport’s second-longest oval, its high-banked 2.5-mile layout.

NASCAR made so many changes while developing the Next Gen car that it is a mere shadow of its previous incarnation. It looks more like a legitimate sports car rather than a stock car, but at the same time, the new body looks a lot like the type of car fans will buy at Ford, Chevrolet and Toyota dealers.

That old saying of “race on Sunday, sell on Monday” is definitely back, baby, and will only continue to get better – and sell more cars.

Tyler Reddick, driver of the #8 Guaranteed Rate Chevrolet, leads the field during the NASCAR Cup Series Busch Light Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

The new race car has several mechanical upgrades, including a revolutionary transaxle that will make changing from fuel to electric power – when the time comes in a few years – very easy.

Fuel cells on the new car are smaller, meaning there will be more pit stops per race. What’s more, tires are wider and larger than their predecessors.

Speaking of tires, arguably the biggest change to the new car is something we have NEVER seen in stock car racing. In other words, never in NASCAR’s 70-plus years of existence.

Instead of five lug nuts per wheel, each car now has just a one lug hub that secures the wheels and tires to the race car suspension. Sure, the air guns used to secure the hubs are twice the size and weight of their predecessors, but just going from five lugs to a one lug hub means pit crews will likely shave up to two seconds off each pit stop.

Can you imagine a four-tire and full fuel stop will now potentially take under 10 seconds? Before we know it, NASCAR may dip down into Formula One territory, where some of its “lengthier” pit stops are only four or five seconds long!

Again, I like, I like!

We’ve seen this type of hub for years in other forms of racing, including IndyCar, F1 and sports cars in general, but never in NASCAR. While the change had been talked about for well over a decade, we finally saw it and how it works on Sunday.

And what we will continue to see going forward is going to be huge to the sport.

Joey Logano, driver of the #22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, takes the checkered flag to win the NASCAR Cup Series Busch Light Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)

It is heartening to see all the fans who turned out at The Coliseum, roughly 50,000-plus attended the 2022 kickoff event for the 99-year-old facility, which holds up to 78,000 fans for sellout events like football games, off-road and motocross races, etc.

Sure, there were some empty seats, but all-in-all, fans got a complete entertainment package with great racing, mini-concerts from rappers Pitbull and Ice Cube, and outstanding weather.

“This is a great event, congratulations to NASCAR,” race winner Joey Logano excitedly said to FOX Sports after winning Sunday’s race. “This is special to get the first Next Gen win and the first one here in the Coliseum, so we’re going to celebrate this one.”

Logano’s celebration, though, was brief on the west coast, as he was heading to catch a flight back to Charlotte, as his wife is due to deliver the couple’s third child on Monday.

Now, NASCAR enjoys a week off with the NFL’s Super Bowl 56 set for next Sunday, February 13, just a few miles south of The Coliseum in Inglewood, California.

Then NASCAR begins to gear up for The Great American Race on February 20 at Daytona, where many more – if I may be so bold, millions more – will get a chance to see even more about what the new car can do.

“When we get to Daytona in a couple of weeks, it’s a whole different ballgame,” three-time Cup champ and NASCAR Hall of Famer Tony Stewart said on FOX.

But so far, NASCAR is batting 1.000 and hit a grand slam Sunday.

“I can’t wait for us to get to Daytona. It’s going to be awesome,” Stewart added.

Indeed, Sunday was awesome and everything from here going forward has the potential to be even more awesome.

Former Cup driver Jamie McMurray quipped on FOX’s post-race wrap-up, “What a day for our sport, for NASCAR. All these people saw amazing racing, the performances that happened. The place was going crazy for racing and the performances. What a success.”

Added FOX analyst Larry McReynolds, “I can never remember in a long time the anticipation of such an event, such a race we had here. It exceeded expectations and did not let us down. We had beating, banging, we’ve got a few hurt tempers, and we had champions of the sport like Joey Logano and Kyle Busch (who finished second and led the most laps – 64 – of the 150-lap event) up there battling for the lead in the closing laps.”

That leaves just one question, which I have already heard strong rumors about: what will NASCAR do for an encore of Sunday’s race? I’ve heard that The Coliseum will be part of the 2023 regular season race schedule, likely the second race of the season after Daytona – and to kick off the first three-race West Coast swing of the season.

Then, also from what I’ve heard, once NASCAR completes the upcoming February 27 race at the two-mile Auto Club Speedway, construction will reportedly begin one day later to tear down the place and, 18 months later, debut a high-banked half-mile oval – just in time for the 10-race NASCAR Cup playoffs in the fall – that will combine all the best elements of Bristol Motor Speedway’s high banks and the tight frontstretch and backstretch, not to mention the crazy-tight turns, of Martinsville Speedway.

Yep, I’m REALLY excited not only about the new car, but also the direction NASCAR is heading in. And you should be too.

Follow AutoRacingDigest.com editor Jerry Bonkowski on Twitter @JerryBonkowski and @AutoRaceDigest