NASCAR CUP SERIES
LOS ANGELES MEMORIAL COLISEUM
BUSCH LIGHT CLASH AT THE COLISEUM
POST-RACE REPORT
FEBRUARY 3, 2024
Busch Leads Chevrolet to Podium Finish in Clash at The Coliseum
Camaro ZL1 takes Four Top-10 Finishes
- Eight drivers from five different Chevrolet teams posted a qualifying lap in the Top-22 of the speed chart to secure a starting position in the 46th Running of the Busch Light Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
- At the stage break caution on Lap 75, Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson led Chevrolet on the leaderboard in the second position. The running order saw three Team Chevy drivers in the top-five, with Larson leading teammate William Byron in fourth and Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch in fifth.
- Involved in contact that resulted in a caution on Lap 77, Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott suffered suspension damage on his No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 – ultimately forcing the team to retire early from the race.
- With a green-white-checkered finish, Kyle Busch led Team Chevy in the final running order – driving his No. 8 Morgan & Morgan Camaro ZL1 to a second-place finish.
- Four Team Chevy drivers recorded a top-10 finish, with Kyle Busch leading Kyle Larson in fifth, Alex Bowman in sixth and William Byron rounding out the Top-10.
- The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season officially kicks off at Daytona International Speedway with the Daytona 500 on Sunday, February 18, at 2:30 P.M. ET. Live coverage can be found on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL TOP-10 RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
2nd Kyle Busch, No. 8 Morgan & Morgan Camaro ZL1
5th Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1
6th Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1
10th William Byron, No. 24 Liberty University Camaro ZL1
TEAM CHEVY TOP-FIVE POST-RACE QUOTES:
Kyle Busch, No. 8 Morgan & Morgan Camaro ZL1
Finished: 2nd
It looked like you had a shot there at the end. Walk though that last restart, especially when you know it’s a one-lap shootout to the finish.
“I got a decent start, and then I knew the No. 11 (Denny Hamlin) was going to keep blowing off the bottom because he kept locking-up his tires – he couldn’t get left-front lockup out of it. I knew there was going to be a hole at the bottom and I got there off of (turn) two, but I just couldn’t accelerate late in the run, late in the race, up off the corners. There was just too much wheel spin to keep that position on him and to be close enough on the next end to get to the inside of him while he locked-up.
It was a good run for us. The No. 8 Morgan & Morgan Camaro was good; it was solid. I felt like the first-half of the race, we were a little bit better. The second-half, we were not as good, but we still came out of here with a second-place finish. Happy with that, but we know we have work to do on our short-track program and get better on that. Maybe some of the stuff we tried today will help us there.”
Busch continuing on his runner-up finish:
“It definitely does sting. The first-half we were better – we had a better car and we were better than the No. 11 (Denny Hamlin). Some of the adjustments we made weren’t as good and some of the adjustments they made were better. All-in-all, I’m glad to have a good night. Glad to come out of here in one piece, even with all the bumping and banging and everything else that happens.”
Kyle Larson, No. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM Camaro ZL1
Finished: 5th
Overall, what did you think about the decision moving the race to tonight?
“Yeah, it was awesome. I was not planning on racing anything other than a heat race tonight and had no thought that racing was an option. Cliff (Daniels) had asked me if I had heard the rumors around 11:30 a.m., or so, and I got excited. I’m happy that we were able to do that. Obviously I’m sure NASCAR took a huge financial hit. I think, at the same point, the crowd was awesome out there for a spur-of-the-moment race with free admission and all of that. Hopefully a lot of these fans, who maybe have never been to a race before, will now fall in love with the sport and it can kind of grow from there. Maybe this could accidently work out really well for NASCAR.”
You and Bubba (Wallace) kind of got together there at the end. With it being an exhibition-style race, do you think the drivers are more willing to ‘forgive and forget’?
“I don’t know – obviously Bubba (Wallace) and I have a history in the past. I don’t really know – hopefully you ‘forgive and forget’. I mean like I said, he ran through me three times and I was just the one that happened to get him at the end. I hope he understands that part of it. Given our history, who knows. But I’m over it. I probably would have been over it too if roles were reverse and I ran through him three times and he finally spun me out the last corner. But we have different personalities too.. we all do out there. Everyone handles it differently. But yeah, it’s just the product of this racing, really. I try to tell myself to let things slide a little bit more, just knowing hits are coming from behind and stuff. Usually when you’re out there, you can get a good sense of when it’s happening – from the car wrecking behind you or before that. Yeah, it’s just kind of the way it goes with this race. It’s just the Clash.”
About Chevrolet
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