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Like a typical Saturday night short track race, the Clash at the Coliseum featured plenty of bent sheet metal and even more hurt feelings. With so many angry drivers, it can be difficult to keep up. Here is a look at all of the angry drivers before and during the Clash at the LA Coliseum.
It was unclear at the time what exactly precipitated this, but, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. did his best to replace the canceled MGK halftime concert. Under the halftime break, he went to John Hunter Nemechek’s car, ripped down the window net, and started yelling at Nemechek. Eventually, the two separated, and nothing else materialized after the race.
Stenhouse Jr. eventually caught up with Bryan Nolan of Fronstretch, and Stenhouse Jr. explained what happened. He was not happy that Nemechek, 2 laps down at the time, went three wide on the restart. This was at the back of the field, so, Fox cameras did not catch it. However, if Nemechek is not even on the same lap as the cars in front of him, it’s understandable why Stenhouse Jr. would be upset.
On the final restart, everyone was jockeying for position, and Tyler Reddick bumped Ross Chastain out of the way as Chastain tried to avoid the spinning Bubba Wallace. Chastain showed his displeasure by door-slamming Reddick into the outside wall.
Both drivers caught up with the media after the race. Chastain said that Reddick, “Just drove through us”, while Reddick did not seem to know what Chastain was upset about. Chastain did mention that both drivers bike together, so, that may be an interesting bike ride this week.
On the final lap coming to the checkered flag, Kyle Larson spun Bubba Wallace out in the last corner. That happened as the checkered flag waved, and it precipitated some more conflict that we went through above. Larson explained his move after the race, telling the media that he wanted to exact some revenge on Wallace, but, the intent was not to wreck Wallace.
Both of these drivers have a checkered past with each other. Most notably in Las Vegas in 2022, where Wallace intentionally wrecked Larson, leading to an altercation on the front stretch under caution. Wallace made no public comment after this race, so, things seem to have settled for now.
Now, this was the big conflict of the evening. Ty Gibbs and Joey Logano had been battling up front all night long. The two had exchanged the lead on restarts, and Logano was looking to run Gibbs down before a caution with 10 laps to go. On the ensuing restart, Gibbs overdrove turn one, shoving Logano out of the way and sacrificing the lead in the process.
Both drivers were heated after the race. Gibbs was eventually spun out to bring out the last caution of the night, and Logano finished 4th when he should have finished, at worst, 2nd. The two engaged in a shouting match in front of Gibbs’ hauler post-race.
Gibbs caught up with the media after the race, and he explained that Logano was mad about being run up the race track on that restart. Logano did not catch up with the media. At the end of the day, the move did not work out well for either driver, so, no one won in this scenario.
The Clash was exactly what fans expect from a Saturday night short track shootout. The question is, will these rivalries expand into the 2024 regular season?
