UPDATE: NASCAR To Allow Fans into the Coliseum on Saturday for FREE

What’s Happening?

After fan backlash, NASCAR Vice President of Racing Development and Strategy, Ben Kennedy, announced that there would be FREE fan access to the Saturday festivities at the LA Coliseum. Previously, no public access was allowed to the Saturday festivities despite there being practice and the 4 qualifying heat races. The move was met with universal praise amongst fans and pundits alike.

• According to Kennedy, even fans without a ticket for Sunday can come on Saturday for free. All fans need to do is show up, and they can get in.
• NASCAR switched up the Clash format this year to accommodate the NASCAR Mexico Series. The Heat Races were moved from Sunday to Saturday and the Last Chance Qualifier was switched from two 50-lap races to one 75-lap race. As a result, fans originally would have had access to 125 fewer laps than they did in 2022 and 2023 if fan access was limited on Saturday.
• Everyone praised this move on social media. Restricting access to only Sunday was seen as a bad move by virtually everyone, so, this change is a welcome one to those people as well.

In the Stands

Couldn’t agree more DannyB.

Mark Jarman thinks this is the right call, even if the why is still a mystery.

John Haywood with a perfect Office meme.

Robbie Manes doesn’t say he disagrees with the move, but, he is curious what this says about the Clash selling tickets.

According to Matt Weaver, NASCAR did good.

ORIGINAL POST BELOW

What’s Happening?

NASCAR fans were up in arms on Tuesday when it was revealed that there will be no public fan access to the Clash at the Coliseum’s Saturday festivities. The Saturday docket includes practice and the four heat races to determine the starting lineup for the Clash 150 lap feature on Sunday. Bob Pockrass was the first to report, and we can confirm that no tickets are currently being offered for Saturday on nascarclash.com.

• NASCAR recently changed the format for the Clash weekend. For the first two seasons, Saturday only had practice and qualifying with no races. This year, however, the heat races have been moved to Saturday to accommodate the NASCAR Mexico Series.
• The Clash is the season-opening exhibition race that will be on February 4th. It serves as a sort of soft launch for NASCAR season before the regular season officially begins with Speedweeks at Daytona the week after the Super Bowl.
• Fans HATED that there is no public access to the Saturday events at the Clash. Fans are accustomed to having the heat races be accessible to ticket holders and now, that is gone.

Why?

Why? That is the question…That is the question indeed. Fans, albeit a very limited number, seemed to be allowed into qualifying for the Clash in 2023. Obviously, the crowd was not big, but why would it be if there is no actual racing happening that day?

Now NASCAR moves the heat races to Saturday, and, suddenly, those are closed off to the public? Fans who bought tickets to this race may feel jipped because, as opposed to 350 laps of Cup Series racing over 4 heat races, 2 LCQs, and a 150-lap feature, they now only have access to 225 laps of Cup Series action over only two races.

Granted, the Mexico Series is racing that day, so, fans do get some consolation. However, how many fans are buying tickets to see a series that isn’t even based in this country?

It’s possible the Coliseum did not want to pay the extra expenses for opening the gates to the Saturday sessions because of how small the crowd was. Even then, this goes against every NASCAR race run, which always gives fans access to practice and qualifying. Either way, the fans are unhappy.

In the Stands

Alexander Carillo calls this a “Fail”

Catz/Connor calls this move “Stupid”

Justin confirms there were tickets offered for Saturday.

Melee says that the heats should just be on Sunday if a Sunday ticket doesn’t grant access to heat races.

BallparkFranks7 says this is not a good look for NASCAR.

Ricky Hardin, that is a good question.

Indeed, not a great look Kevin McAdams

Andrew Adams says it makes no sense.

Will it work out? It doesn’t seem exceptionally likely Jacob Roth.

Good question Don Carty.

Fans do not like this move, and they made that very clear. What are your thoughts on the move?