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sports Diamars 8 Februari 2022

NASCAR scores win with successful race inside LA Coliseum

(AP) — NASCAR was the the same stage for his pre- drivers who high-fived Ken-
big winner at its glossy Los race concert. nedy.
Angeles gala held inside
Memorial Coliseum. The grand marshals were Los NASCAR moved the Clash
Angeles sporting greats and to Los Angeles from Daytona
In need of an energy boost Jeff Gordon lit the cauldron International Speedway, its
ahead of its upcoming sea- built for the 1932 Summer only home since its 1979 in-
son, NASCAR broke its dat- Olympics before the race ception, as part of a focused
ed mold and staged an exper- began. Celebrities walked a effort to break from its dated
imental exhibition race inside red carpet, the USC student traditions. And the race was a
one of the most iconic ven- section filled in early, and the success before a single race-
ues in sports. The race itself crowd booed pole-sitter Kyle car drove through the South-
on a temporary quarter-mile Busch like a bunch of old ern California football team’s
asphalt oval was a sideshow pro’s during driver introduc- tunnel and onto the smooth,
in Sunday’s made-for-Fox tions. black asphalt that covered the
Sports spectacular. Trojans’ field.
The name of the race was this event differently. caught by Logano, who never
Just how successful was the the same, but everything else The Coliseum could hold gave Busch a chance to move
Busch Light Clash? Two about the 44th running of about 60,000 fans for The “We’re really proud of the him out of the way for the
losing drivers high-fived a The Clash was different. Clash, and although it wasn’t outcome.” win.
pair of NASCAR senior ex- a sellout, the crowd was both
ecutives as they passed in the Joey Logano was the actual strong and loud. NASCAR The field was determined by Logano won the Clash for
USC locker room. race winner and, like nearly said at the start of the week heat races held earlier Sun- the second time in his career.
everyone else in the industry, that 70% of those who pur- day, and a pair of last chance It was the fifth win for Team
One was Ben Kennedy, the heaped praise on NASCAR chased tickets identified as qualifiers to give drivers one Penske, which has won three
30-year-old great-grandson for successfully fulfilling first-time race attendees, and final chance to make the 23- of the last six runnings of
of NASCAR’s founder and Kennedy’s vision. the buildup in Los Angeles car starting grid. The format what had traditionally been a
forward-thinker who pushed for next week’s Super Bowl made for spirited racing in warmup for the Daytona 500.
The Clash from its birthplace “The hype around this, you only helped publicize NAS- the final “LCQ” as rookie
in Daytona across the coun- watch football games lately, CAR’s big party. Austin Cindric bounced and Nothing learned in Los An-
try and into the Coliseum. they’re advertising the Clash banged his way through traf- geles will transfer into the
as much as they’re advertis- The name of the race was fic trying to transfer into the Feb. 21 season-opening Day-
“Really good day for the en- ing Daytona 500,” Logano the same, but everything else main event. tona 500, but the race was the
tire sport,” Kennedy said. said. “ That kind of puts it about the 44th running of first for NASCAR’s new car.
into perspective a little bit on The Clash was different. Cindric fell short but was in The Next Gen was a long-
The Clash was a success be- what this event meant to our good company: NASCAR planned project that was
fore a single racecar drove sport, how big of a gamble “I think it was a risk. We knew champions Brad Keselowski delayed a season by the pan-
through the Southern Cali- this really was, right? This that from the start,” Kennedy and Kurt Busch were among demic.
fornia football team’s tun- could have gone awful. It said. “As we’ve talked about the drivers who didn’t make
nel and onto the smooth, went great.” the schedule over the past it out of the heats. The car is designed to cut
black asphalt that covered the couple years, we talked about costs to teams, even competi-
Trojans’ field. Ice Cube per- Added runner-up Busch: being bold, we talked about Kyle Busch started on the tion throughout the field and
formed a six-minute set from “Ben Kennedy and the guys being innovative. This was pole for the 150-lap feature produce a better racing prod-
the Peristyle during a brief at NASCAR, if this didn’t something new, something that included a planned stop uct. The Next Gen didn’t
“halftime,” and Pitbull with work, it was going to be ugly.” different. We challenged our- on Lap 75 for Ice Cube’s disappoint in its debut on the
backup dancers outfitted in selves, the team challenged set. Busch dominated the shortest track on the NAS-
a checkered-flag theme used Instead, Busch was one of the themselves, to think about first half but was eventually CAR schedule.

Dolphins hire Mike McDaniel as head coach

(AP)- The Miami Dol- 49ers offensive coordi- their head coach Sunday, McDaniel was credited for
phins hired San Francisco nator Mike McDaniel as making him the first mi- his role in developing San McDaniel could bring some
nority candidate to get Francisco’s creative running of those wrinkles to Miami to
hired so far this offseason. game that featured receiver feature playmaking receiver
Deebo Samuel as a running Jaylen Waddle in even more
McDaniel, who is biracial, re- back at times, along with oth- creative ways,
places Brian Flores, who was er wrinkles.
fired despite posting winning The Dolphins struggled of-
records in the final two of his “Mike is awesome,” 49ers fensively this season despite
three seasons in Miami. quarterback Jimmy Garop- finishing 9-8 in a roller-coast-
polo said last month. “He er campaign that featured a
Flores sued the NFL, the really is. He’s kind of that, I seven-game losing streak fol-
Dolphins and two other don’t want to say the master- lowed by a seven-game win-
teams last week over alleged mind behind everything, but ning streak.
racist hiring practices for he’s kind of that guy in the
coaches and general manag- background that doesn’t say a Second-year quarterback Tua
ers, saying the league remains whole ton to a lot of people, Tagovailoa struggled at times
“rife with racism” even as it but his mind is always mov- and Miami ranked 22nd in
publicly condemns it. ing. The ideas that he comes the league in scoring this sea-
up with are so fresh and new son.
McDaniel had worked under that it’s a cool guy to have on
49ers coach Kyle Shanahan the staff. ... The 49ers had a much more
for the past 11 seasons and productive offense despite
gets his first shot as a head “He’s a lot smarter than most also having a quarterback
coach after only one year as of us. So he dumbs it down with limitations in Garop-
offensive coordinator. for us and kind of gets us all polo.
on the same page.”