Preseason Daytona exhibition race once again bearing the 'Clash' name
The Clash is back. The race name, not the band.
Daytona International Speedway announced Wednesday that the Feb. 18 preseason exhibition race — most recently the Sprint Unlimited — held the weekend before the Daytona 500 will now be titled “The Clash at Daytona.”
The race does not have a title sponsor, perhaps because there’s no Cup Series title sponsor as of yet. Sprint had sponsored the race ever since Budweiser moved its Daytona sponsorship from the race to the qualifying races for the Daytona 500 in 2013.
2016 pole winners, drivers who have won the exhibition race previously, Daytona 500 pole winners and all drivers from the 2016 Chase that don’t fit into the previous three criteria are eligible for the race.
As of now, the field would include Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon, Carl Edwards, Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Martin Truex Jr. (2016 pole winners), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Clash winner), Danica Patrick (Daytona 500 pole winner), Chris Buescher, Kyle Larson and Jamie McMurray (Chase drivers).
Greg Biffle, Alex Bowman and Tony Stewart are also eligible. But Biffle and Bowman don’t have rides lined up for 2017 and Stewart has retired. Stewart missed last year’s race because of a back injury but NASCAR allowed Brian Vickers to race in his place despite not fitting any of the eligibility requirements.
The race was first run in 1979 for pole winners from the previous season as the Busch Clash. The Busch Clash was run through 1997 before it was renamed the Budweiser Shootout in 1998. The Clash race was 20 laps through 1997 before being extended to 25 laps in 1998 and then 70 laps in 2001.
The 2017 race will be a two-segment 75-lap event.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
