NASCAR heads to Los Angeles with questions about weather and beyond

LOS ANGELES — After NASCAR packs up following the Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the question that will remain is when and where will NASCAR return to the Los Angeles market?

With this the last year of an existing three-year contract to rent the Coliseum to construct a track and stage the race, the pulse in the industry is to possibly bring the concept of a temporary track in a stadium setting to another city.

But doing so potentially could leave the area without a race. NASCAR has plans to turn its facility in Fontana (about 40-60 minutes away) into a half-mile track. Much of the former 2-mile oval already has been demolished by new owners after NASCAR sold 433 acres for $559 million in 2023.

NASCAR, which has an agreement to be able to lease areas that it sold for parking lots on race weekends, still owns 90 acres and has plans to build its reconfigured track despite no construction since it raced there a year ago. The frontstretch and some grandstands remain with the idea that the rest of the half-mile oval be built on the property still owned by NASCAR.

[Read more: 2024 NASCAR Power Rankings: Denny Hamlin tops preseason list]

But with that construction not having started — NASCAR appears to be waiting to see if construction costs stabilize — the chances of that project being completed to race in 2025 is dim.

“Odds are not,” said Dave Allen, president of NASCAR’s West Coast region, about the possibility of racing at the track in 2025. “We still have some things to get over. … My hope is we have a decision [on a construction timeline] sometime in the near future.”

There could be other options to race in the area (short track Irwindale Speedway if it remains in operation beyond 2024, the Long Beach Grand Prix if there is a way to have NASCAR as part of that weekend). But neither of those seem all that far along in the discussion phase.

“We have to be responsible with what we do,” Allen said. “We continue to beat the drum for NASCAR in this market, whether we’re racing here or not. There’s still a lot of excitement for what the future holds here.

“Even if there is a lag in what we’re doing, … our fans know that we’ll be here to do something.”

While Los Angeles is far from the NASCAR roots in the Southeast, the car culture in the city is vibrant.

“We need to be racing here doing something,” said California native Tyler Reddick. “There’s just a huge car culture out here.

“It would be a shame not to have some form of NASCAR racing here in what is the heart of car culture for many.”

That was never more evident than Wednesday night when NASCAR unveiled the trophy for a new event in L.A. this weekend — the NASCAR Mexico Series will have an invitational race on Sunday prior to the Clash. 

The event drew a lively crowd to witness a trophy by L.A. artist Ozzie Juarez. 

That race will give this year’s race a different feel.

“[We thought] what can we do different to make sure that it remains relevant and remains fresh,” Allen said. “And I think this is just a natural time obviously with this marketplace.”

Events in the area often attract celebrities and social media influencers. 

“We’ve proven the market will support what we do from a racing perspective,” Allen said. 

NASCAR’s initial concern will be getting the races in this weekend with heavy storms predicted to arrive late Sunday night. The track is designed to drain — it handled the heavy rain Thursday relatively well — and NASCAR likely needs only a two-hour window without rain to get the surface ready for racing and the event to run at least halfway.

Teams will have rain tires but not wipers to clear windshields of any rain or spray, so they can only race in damp, non-rainy conditions. As is one of the potential issues with a rental, NASCAR apparently does have some leeway as far as its timeline to remove the track where it could stay a few days to get the race completed.

Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.

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