Does this sound like a home run, or a strike out?
Sports Business Journal reports that NASCAR has been in discussion with the owners of Dodger Stadium about bringing a Cup Series race at the iconic baseball venue.
NASCAR has held the season-opening Busch Light Clash exhibition race on a temporary track built inside of the L.A. Coliseum for the past three years, but hasn’t confirmed a return for 2025.
However, NASCAR president Steve Phelps said last month that the Cup Series will definitely visit the Southern California market again next year, although he didn’t clarify if he was talking about the Clash or a points race.
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NASCAR has become something of a nomad in the area since Auto Club Speedway was demolished last year. Plans to replace it with a half-mile short track have been delayed and won’t come to fruition before the 2026 season, at the earliest.
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NASCAR officials have said they’ve been looking at various options, but they are limited. The only permanent oval tracks near Los Angeles that could be suitable are Irwindale Speedway or Kern County Raceway Park, but neither complex is on the scale that NASCAR prefers for Cup Series events.
That brings us to Dodger Stadium.
NASCAR hasn’t confirmed the talks, so there aren’t any details about what the plan would be, but it’s unlikely it would be able to fit a suitable temporary track inside of the stadium.
The L.A. Coliseum’s field is unusually large and was able to contain a quarter-mile track, which seems like the bare minimum for a Clash race.
Dodger Stadium’s field is nearly 150 feet shorter than the length of the Coliseum, and that’s from the backstop to dead center field. Its shape does not lend itself to accommodating a circuit for full-size race cars, although it has held Supercross motorcycle races, but those use narrow, winding tracks for much smaller vehicles.
But what it does have is an enormous expanse of parking lots and roadways surrounding it, on which a street circuit, similar to the one that debuted in Chicago last year, could be set up. The electric Formula E racing series had previously discussed such a setup with the stadium.
The owners of the Hard Rock Stadium in Florida did something similar to bring Formula One to the venue, but made the track a more permanent addition to the grounds.
Phelps also said he “would be surprised” if NASCAR doesn’t have events in Canada and Mexico next year.
Speculation in the sport is that the Clash to go to Mexico while a regular season race will be held at the Circuit Gilles Villenueve in Montreal where the predecessor of the Xfinity Series used to compete.
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NASCAR usually waits until the fall before announcing the following year’s schedule, so it could be a while before any of this is officially confirmed.