LA Memorial Coliseum, Racing Circuit

The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum is the historic stadium in Exposition Park in Los Angeles, California, that from 2022 hosted a temporary asphalt oval built inside it for NASCAR's season-opening Busch Light Clash. The idea took shape in 2019 as NASCAR sought new ways to reach fresh audiences, and talks resumed after the pandemic in 2021. A quarter-mile oval was squeezed onto the football field, helped by the stadium's bordering dirt track giving just enough room for the turns. Building the course was a major logistical feat: crews protected the turf with sheeting and plywood, laid a base of crushed rock and asphalt, and brought in walls, catch fences and SAFER barriers on loan from other tracks, all within a tight December-to-January window. Because of the compact site there is no pit lane, so cars are serviced on the infield between sessions rather than in live stops. The inaugural 2022 race, won by Joey Logano, also marked the competition debut of NASCAR's Next Gen car and drew a crowd in which roughly 70 percent were first-time race attendees. It was the shortest paved oval most Cup drivers had raced, with speeds topping out around 85 mph, and the event was repeated in subsequent years before each running was torn down to return the field to its normal use.

Operated by: University of Southern California