The 2025 NASCAR season is upon us at long last. We’re excited for cars to turn laps on the track again! So, with the annual Clash this weekend, we thought it would be cool to take a look at this historic race from its humble origins to the modern-day season kick-off that it is today. Some of you newer NASCAR fans might not realize that this sacred exhibition race wasn’t always in the format that it’s currently in. It didn’t always take place at a quarter-mile bullring. In fact, the Clash has been raced on the road course layout of Daytona for an odd one-off event. But more traditionally, the race took place at the Daytona oval as a part of the long-dwindling Daytona Speedweeks.
So, with no further ado, let’s take a deep dive into NASCAR’s past, shall we? This is the Busch Clash (or, now, Cookout Clash or Budweiser Shootout or Sprint Unlimited or whatever you want to call it) and how it’s evolved throughout the modern era of our beloved sport.
Funnily enough, the Clash, like the Winston/All-Star race, was created by a sponsor. The man behind the Clash was none other than Milton Roberts, who, at the time, was the brand manager for the newly launched Busch Beer. The race was meant to promote the new product to NASCAR fans, and it was often paired up with the annual ARCA series opener, with the Clash being the main event. The first race was held in 1979 and it had the following format:
Since the invites to the race were given only to Busch pole winners from the previous year, the race was billed as a sprint of the “fastest drivers”. Because of this, it was dubbed the “fastest race of the year”. The Busch Clash at Daytona was raced under this format through the 1990 running of the race. Winners of this event under this format include greats such as Dale Earnhardt, Buddy Baker (the inaugural winner of the event), Darrell Waltrip, Bobby Allison, Bill Elliott, Neil Bonnet, and Ken Schrader.
Most of these old races are on YouTube for us fans to enjoy. If you’re itching for some on-track action and can’t wait until Sunday, give some of them a watch. Below is the 1990 running of the event, the last year the Busch Clash used this particular format. Check it out!
1991 was when things got a little more complicated with the storied event. It was also the first time that stage racing was ever used in NASCAR. The format remained relatively unchanged through these growing years. The format was as follows:
These changes came as a way to make the race a little more exciting and entertaining for fans. Since the introduction of the restrictor plate in 1988, the race had grown stale in the eyes of many fans, who typically saw it as a one-sided runaway. The stage break was an excuse to bunch the field back up, and the field inversion was introduced so that fans could watch the fastest racers in America dash to the front in a 10-lap shootout. Sometimes they were successful, sometimes they weren’t. The race was held the weekend of the ARCA 200 as a support to that event. Notable winners under this format include Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, Jeff Bodine, and Dale Jarrett.
A fun fact about this era of the Clash was that for the 1995 and 1996 seasons, the driver who won the most poles in NASCAR’s second-tier series (the modern-day Xfinity Series) also won a spot in the field. In both seasons, that driver was Xfinity Series legend David Green. He drove a Busch-sponsored wild card car.
This format can be credited as the blueprint of what was to come as the race expanded into a new millennium. The final race under this format is posted below. Give if a watch! The winner was Jeff Gordon who went on to win that year’s Daytona 500.
Beginning in 1998, the Clash became an ever-evolving wheel. The name was changed from the Busch Clash to the Budweiser Shootout beginning in that year, a name which it held until the 2013 season. From 1998-2000, NASCAR also hosted a Bud Shootout Qualifier race. This race functioned like the Open ahead of the All-Star Race. To put it simply, drivers who weren’t already locked into the race got to compete in the Qualifier. During these years, rather than having two segments, there were two distinct 25-lap races. The first one was the Qualifier, while the second, beginning at Noon, was the Shootout itself. A two-tire green flag pit stop was required in each event. The winner of the qualifier advanced to the main event.
More change came to the format in 2001. Gone was the qualifier race and the shootout expanded to a 70-lap event, or, 175-miles. In this rendition of the format, caution laps did count but the race had to finish under green. This was a predecessor to the green-white-checkered we have today which, at the time, was only a rule in the Truck Series. The single two-tire green flag pit stop rule remained.
From 2003 to 2008, the Bud Shootout’s format became a little more consistent. The format during these years was as follows:
From 2009 to 2012, only a few minor tweaks were made to the format. The race remained 2 segments, but it was expanded to a 75-lap (or 187.5 miles) race. The first segment became 25 laps long, while the second stage remained 50 laps in length. Qualifying parameters also changed during these years. Though the race remained sponsored by Budweiser, Coors Light became the new title sponsor of the pole award. So, winning a pole no longer guaranteed a driver’s spot in the field. Rather, the field was expanded to 28 entries. The six top teams from each manufacturer were locked in, making up 24 of the 28 spots. The remaining 4 spots were rewarded to “wild card” entries from each of the four manufacturers, filling out the field.
In 2010, things got a little simpler. They brought back the previous Shootout winner provision and filled out the rest of the field, which included past Cup champions, past points-paying winners at Daytona, and the 12 Playoff drivers from the previous season. In 2012, they overhauled it again with top-25 in points being locked in, as well as every previous winner of the event and past Daytona points race winners.
This was around the time that the Clash was starting to lose its luster. Former winners of this version of the Clash include drivers such as Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson, Denny Hamlin, Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, etc.
The drop in popularity really started around the end of the 2000s, but it carried over into the 2010s and 2020s due to convoluted layouts and qualifying parameters. From 2013 to 2015, the format was as follows:
Fans were also able to vote on certain aspects of the race. For example, in 2013, they voted to require a four-tire green flag pit stop. One of the biggest changes during these years was that Budweiser no longer sponsored the event. Rather, Cup Series sponsor Sprint took over, renaming the race to the very unpopular Sprint Unlimited.
From 2016 to 2020, the format itself did not change much. The changes made pertained to who was eligible. Pole winners and former race winners were still granted berths for the event. However, the field also expanded to a minimum of 25 cars. The 16 Playoff drivers, as were previous Daytona 500 front-row starters, were guaranteed spots in the race. If the field did not reach 25 entries, the field was filled out with the highest drivers in points the previous year. From 2017 to 2018, the drivers eligible became former Clash winners, former Daytona pole winners, and the previous year’s Playoff drivers. In its final 2 years, drivers could also earn spots by being champions of the Daytona 500.
Winners under this format include Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth, Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, and Erik Jones.
By the time the 2020 running of the event came around, the Clash was dying and needed a good shot in the arm. The first major change came not in the form of venue but track layout. In 2021, the race was run on the 3.61-mile Daytona Road Course. It became a 200-kilometer race with the layout being as follows:
The layout was changed after the 2020 running of the event proved to be a debacle of crashes with the racing product being poor. This version of the event was somewhat well received by fans but was hardly what NASCAR was looking for. The lone winner of the road course version of the event was Kyle Busch.
The Clash received a huge overhaul come the 2022 season with the introduction of the NextGen car. For the first time in the race’s history, it was run outside the state of Florida in favor of SoCal, Los Angeles. The race took place inside the Coliseum on a temporary quarter-mile short track oval. For this fresh start in the very valuable southern California market, all drivers and teams were invited to participate in the event. Practice and qualifying were held on Saturday. Based on their qualifying speeds, the drivers were split into 4 heat races, the top 5 in each 25-lap sprint advancing to the main event on Sunday night. Drivers who didn’t advance in the heats participated in two 50-lap last-chance qualifiers. The top 3 in each of those races transferred to the main event. The rest were sent packing. The final spot went to the highest finisher in the previous year’s points standings, which had not yet advanced. This made for a 27-car field.
The Clash itself took place on Sunday night, primetime on FOX. The main event was a 150-lap race around a bullring inside of a historic football/sports stadium. 3 of the races were held in LA, the winners being Joey Logano, Martin Truex Jr., and Denny Hamlin, respectively.
For the 2025 season, the Clash will once again take place inside of a football stadium. But rather than being in the heart of L. A., the race is taking NASCAR back to its roots. The 2025 event will be run at Bowman-Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. This is a historic racetrack that the NASCAR Cup Series hadn’t competed on since 1971. Nicknamed “The Mad House”, the Clash at Bowman Gray is sure to be an exciting event. It will follow pretty much the same format as the L. A. Clash listed above. The only real difference is that the field for the Main Event was scaled down from 27 cars to 23.
Where do you think the Clash goes from here? Do you want to see it return to Daytona? Do you want it to be a traveling event? Let us know what you’re thinking!
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