Kyle Busch Wins Pole for Sunday's Busch Lite Exhibition Race at the LA Coliseum

Joe Gibbs Racing

LOS ANGELES, CA – FEB 5, 2022 - RIS – Kyle Busch will start on the pole in his qualifying race for Sunday’s Busch Light Clash exhibition opening season race at the LA Coliseum, home of the USC Trojans football team in a track created for the event.  In this case, temperatures were twenty degrees cooler that Saturday morning practices and that made a difference in speeds.

Busch, who went out with about 12 of 36 cars remaining, posted an average lap of 65.478 mph, which turned out to be the fastest of the session.

“I never would have thunk it,” Busch said of being the fastest qualifier. “I don’t know, you know, it’s pretty cool. It’s just different with the opportunity to do something like this.

“NASCAR took a lot of flak on what this was going to look like and what it was going to be. But we’re having a great time. We had a bunch of fans come out just to witness the qualifying.

“I’m looking forward to seeing what this place will look like tomorrow and have the opportunity to race this No. 18 Toyota and keep it up front. We’re not in (the main event) yet – we still have to go through that heat race.  Tyler Reddick was second-fastest (65.402 mph), Justin Haley was third (64.790 mph) and Joey Logano was fourth (64.521 mph).

Busch, Reddick, Haley and Logano will each start on the pole for one of Sunday’s four heat races. The top four finishers in each heat race will advance to the Clash main event.

The remainder of the field will fight for the final six positions in two ‘last-chance’ races.

Sunday’s Clash is being contested at a track other than Daytona for the first time since its inception in 1981. 

Time Trial Results: Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum, Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Pos, Driver, Car, Time, Speed, Lap #, # Laps, -Fastest, -Next
1) Kyle Busch, No. 18 M&M's Toyota, 13.745, 65.478, 2, 2, 0.000, 0.000
2) Tyler Reddick, No. 8 Guaranteed Rate Chevrolet, 13.761, 65.402, 2, 2, 0.016, 0.016
3) Justin Haley, No. 31 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet, 13.891, 64.790, 2, 2, 0.146, 0.130
4) Joey Logano, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, 13.949, 64.521, 2, 2, 0.204, 0.058
5) Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Freeway Insurance Chevrolet, 13.952, 64.507, 2, 2, 0.207, 0.003
6) Cole Custer, No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford, 13.953, 64.502, 2, 2, 0.208, 0.001
7) Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, 13.954, 64.498, 2, 2, 0.209, 0.001
8) Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, 13.957, 64.484, 2, 2, 0.212, 0.003
9) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Food 4 Less Chevrolet, 13.962, 64.461, 2, 2, 0.217, 0.005
10) Harrison Burton #, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford, 13.965, 64.447, 2, 2, 0.220, 0.003
11) William Byron Jr., No. 24 Valvoline Chevrolet, 13.973, 64.410, 2, 2, 0.228, 0.008
12) Michael McDowell, No. 34 Love's Travel Stops Ford, 13.978, 64.387, 2, 2, 0.233, 0.005
13) Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Menards/Great Lakes Flooring Ford, 14.007, 64.254, 2, 2, 0.262, 0.029
14) Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Chevrolet, 14.014, 64.221, 2, 2, 0.269, 0.007
15) Christopher Bell, No. 20 SiriusXM Toyota, 14.023, 64.180, 2, 2, 0.278, 0.009
16) Landon Cassill(i), No. 77 Voyager: Crypto for All Chevrolet, 14.050, 64.057, 2, 2, 0.305, 0.027
17) Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota, 14.053, 64.043, 2, 2, 0.308, 0.003
18) Bubba Wallace, No. 23 DoorDash Toyota, 14.076, 63.939, 2, 2, 0.331, 0.023
19) AJ Allmendinger(i), No. 16 chevyliners.com Chevrolet, 14.120, 63.739, 2, 2, 0.375, 0.044
20) Austin Cindric #, No. 2 eCascadia Ford, 14.148, 63.613, 2, 2, 0.403, 0.028
21) Aric Almirola, No. 10 Farmer John Ford, 14.151, 63.600, 1, 2, 0.406, 0.003
22) Austin Dillon, No. 3 True Velocity Chevrolet, 14.157, 63.573, 2, 2, 0.412, 0.006
23) Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Busch Light Ford, 14.158, 63.568, 2, 2, 0.413, 0.001
24) Erik Jones, No. 43 FOCUSfactor Chevrolet, 14.194, 63.407, 2, 2, 0.449, 0.036
25) BJ McLeod, No. 78 SkyView Partners Ford, 14.235, 63.224, 2, 2, 0.490, 0.041
26) Chase Briscoe, No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford, 14.247, 63.171, 2, 2, 0.502, 0.012
27) Chris Buescher, No. 17 Fastenal Ford, 14.251, 63.153, 2, 2, 0.506, 0.004
28) Ryan Preece, No. 15 Jacob Companies Ford, 14.277, 63.038, 2, 2, 0.532, 0.026
29) Todd Gilliland #, No. 38 First Phase Ford, 14.304, 62.919, 2, 2, 0.559, 0.027
30) Brad Keselowski, No. 6 Violet Defense Ford, 14.305, 62.915, 2, 2, 0.560, 0.001
31) Corey LaJoie, No. 7 NationsGuard Chevrolet, 14.326, 62.823, 2, 2, 0.581, 0.021
32) Kurt Busch, No. 45 Monster Energy Toyota, 14.437, 62.340, 2, 2, 0.692, 0.111
33) Ross Chastain, No. 1 Howler Head Chevrolet, 14.451, 62.279, 2, 2, 0.706, 0.014
34) Martin Truex Jr., No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota, 14.466, 62.215, 2, 2, 0.721, 0.015
35) Cody Ware, No. 51 Nurtec ODT Ford, 14.471, 62.193, 2, 2, 0.726, 0.005
36) Ty Dillon, No. 42 Black Rifle Coffee Company Chevrolet, 14.532, 61.932, 2, 2, 0.787, 0.061