NASCAR’s Clash tipped for Daytona return

Daytona International Speedway is tipped to be returning as the host of the Clash, NASCAR's preseason exhibition event, in 2027.

The Athletic is reporting that a confirmation announcement could come within a few weeks that the event will run the week before the Daytona 500, which is scheduled for Feb. 21.

The shift back to Daytona would not be all that surprising, as the industry had been discussing the possibility of the event being held at Daytona or Bowman Gray Stadium for quite some time. Bowman Gray, the historic quarter-mile in Winston-Salem, N.C., had hosted the event the last two years. It was held in Los Angeles from 2022 through '24 at a quarter-mile track built inside the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

Daytona, however, is where the Clash was born. The specialty event debuted in 1979 and was used as a hype-up race for the season-opening Daytona 500 with major sponsorship from Busch.

A sprint race, the Clash, in its prime, was one of the most popular events on the calendar. But over time, through on-track chaos of a superspeedway event and ever-changing eligibility rules, it lost some of its luster. And when NASCAR began moving the event around, it faced questions about its purpose.

The last time the Clash was held at Daytona was in 2021, but that race was run on the road course. It has not been held on Daytona's trioval since 2020 (pictured above).