The wait for the Clash at LA Coliseum is officially over as cars have taken to the track and practice has wrapped up. Former NASCAR Cup Series champion Chase Elliott sits atop the leaderboard with the fastest time of 13.455 seconds.
Elliott crossed the finish line just .002 seconds faster than the #4 Ford driver, Kevin Harvick. Chase Briscoe finished with the third fastest practice time. Justin Haley was fourth quickest and Kyle Busch made up the top five.
Speaking to Jamie Little from Fox Sports, Elliott praised his team, saying:
“First off just props to NASCAR and everybody involved, all the men and women that put a lot of the effort into making it happen.”
He went on to say:
“The workmanship and logistics of how this has worked has really impressed me. Happy to be here. It’s been a really busy winter and hasn’t felt like much offseason for any of us but super excited to be back. I feel we have a pretty good NAPA Chevy, and at this point, we’re just trying to make the right decisions and not let me mess it up too bad.”
Clash at LA Coliseum practice results
Next Gen car makes debut in Clash at LA Coliseum
The Clash's first and only practice session of the weekend was the first opportunity race fans had to see the Next Gen cars in action, and overall, it went smoothly.
After the two-hour practice session was completed without any major incidents, one thing that stood out was that bigger race tires meant bigger race brakes, and that came into play at the 1/4 mile asphalt track. Denny Hamlin, as well as a handful of other drivers, locked up their brakes on multiple occasions, driving their cars into the corners. It wasn't a big deal during practice, where drivers had 8 minute sessions on the track, but it could come into play in the 150-lap feature tomorrow night.