The 2020 Busch Clash was a NASCAR Cup Series race held on February 9, 2020 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. Contested over 88 laps — extended from 75 laps due to an overtime finish, it was the first exhibition race of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season. The race was won by Erik Jones, one of only six cars still running after a series of crashes late in the race, gaining the race the nickname of "Busch Crash" for that reason.

This ended up being the last Clash race in its traditional form; the event moved to the road course for 2021 (originally planned as the last race for the Generation 6 car; the car was used for the entire season instead) and then to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in 2022.

Report

Background

The track, Daytona International Speedway, is one of six superspeedways to hold NASCAR races, the others being Michigan International Speedway, Auto Club Speedway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Pocono Raceway, and Talladega Superspeedway. The standard track at Daytona International Speedway is a four–turn superspeedway that is The track's turns are banked at 31 degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, is banked at 18 degrees.

Format and eligibility

The race is 75 laps in length, and is divided into two segments; the first is 25 laps and the second is 50 laps. The race is open to those drivers who won a pole in the 2019 season or had won "The Clash" previously.

The 2020 Busch Clash will not be a predetermined number of cars; rather, the field is limited to drivers who meet more exclusive criteria. Only drivers who were 2019 Pole Award winners, former Clash race winners, former Daytona 500 champions, former Daytona 500 pole winners who competed full–time in 2019 and drivers who qualified for the 2019 Playoffs are eligible.

Entry list Eighteen drivers were confirmed to be participating in this event. Although Daniel Hemric and Daniel Suárez were eligible to run the event, they chose not to run with Hemric moving back to the NASCAR Xfinity Series and Suarez focusing in preparing for the 2020 Daytona 500.

Driver Team Manufacturer 1 Kurt Busch Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 2 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 4 Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 6 Ryan Newman Roush Fenway Racing Ford 9 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 10 Aric Almirola Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 12 Ryan Blaney Team Penske Ford 14 Clint Bowyer Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 19 Martin Truex Jr. Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 20 Erik Jones Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 24 William Byron Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 42 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 88 Alex Bowman Hendrick Motorsports ChevroletOfficial entry list

Practice Erik Jones was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 45.055 seconds and a speed of .

Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 20 Erik Jones Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 45.055 199.756 2 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 45.060 199.734 3 19 Martin Truex Jr. Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 45.067 199.703Official final practice results

Starting lineup The lineup was determined by random draw, with Ryan Newman drawing the top spot.

Pos Driver Team Manufacturer 1 6 Ryan Newman Roush Fenway Racing Ford 2 2 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 3 19 Martin Truex Jr. Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 4 42 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 5 10 Aric Almirola Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 6 14 Clint Bowyer Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 7 24 William Byron Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 8 88 Alex Bowman Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 9 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 10 4 Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 11 9 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 12 20 Erik Jones Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 13 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 14 12 Ryan Blaney Team Penske Ford 15 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 16 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 17 1 Kurt Busch Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 18 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing ToyotaOfficial starting lineup

Race summary

Race results

Box score Pos Grid Driver Team Manufacturer Laps Status 1 12 20 Erik Jones Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry 88 1:37:51 2 15 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Camaro 88 -.697 seconds 3 6 14 Clint Bowyer Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang 88 Running 4 4 42 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet Camaro 88 Running 5 1 6 Ryan Newman Roush Fenway Racing Ford Mustang 88 Running 6 18 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry 87 -1 lap 7 11 9 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro 82 Accident 8 14 12 Ryan Blaney Team Penske Ford Mustang 78 Accident 9 13 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford Mustang 78 Accident 10 5 10 Aric Almirola Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang 77 Accident 11 16 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro 77 Accident 12 17 1 Kurt Busch Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet Camaro 77 Accident 13 10 4 Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang 77 Accident 14 7 24 William Byron Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro 74 Accident 15 8 88 Alex Bowman Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro 74 Accident 16 3 19 Martin Truex Jr. Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry 72 Accident 17 2 2 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford Mustang 66 Accident 18 9 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry 65 AccidentOfficial race results

Statistics

Cautions: 5 for 21 laps FromLap ToLap TotalLaps Reason 27 30 4 Competition 67 72 6 #'s 22 (Logano), 2 (Keselowski), 12 (Blaney),48 (Johnson), 11 (Hamlin), & 18 (Ky.Busch), Crash T4 74 77 4 #'s 19 (Truex Jr.), 24 (Byron), 6 (Newman), 42 (Larson), 4 (Harvick),1 (Ku.Busch), 12 (Blaney), 14 (Boywer), 88 (Bowman), & 20 (Jones),Crash tri-oval 79 82 4 #'s 11 (Hamlin), 9 (Elliott), 1 (Ku.Busch), 48 (Johnson),22 (Logano), 12 (Blaney), 14 (Bowyer), 10 (Almirola),3 (A.Dillon), 20 (Jones), & 4 (Harvick), Crash T4(Red flag 7:27) 84 86 3 #'s 42 (Larson), 9 (Elliott), & 20 (Jones), Crash T4

Lap Leaders FromLap ToLap TotalLaps Driver 1 2 2 Ryan Newman 3 9 7 Martin Truex Jr. 10 24 15 Brad Keselowski 25 28 4 Ryan Newman 29 46 18 Brad Keselowski 47 50 4 William Bryon 51 52 2 Kyle Larson 53 56 4 Chase Elliott 57 58 2 Alex Bowman 59 65 7 Joey Logano 66 77 12 Denny Hamlin 78 80 3 Chase Elliott 81 86 6 Austin Dillon 87 87 1 Ryan Newman 88 88 1 Erik Jones

Media FS1 covered the race on the television side; Mike Joy and Jeff Gordon handled the call in the booth for the race; Michael Waltrip, Vince Welch and Matt Yocum handled pit road for the television side.

Television A total of 2.46 million people watched the race, which earned it a 1.57 rating. This rating was 15% higher than the 2019 Clash. FS1Booth announcersPit reporters Lap-by-lap: Mike JoyColor-commentator: Jeff Gordon Michael WaltripVince WelchMatt Yocum

Radio MRN RadioBooth announcersTurn announcersPit reporters Lead announcer: Alex HaydenAnnouncer: Jeff StriegleAnnouncer: Rusty Wallace Turns 1 & 2: Dave MoodyBackstretch: Mike BagleyTurns 3 & 4: Kyle Rickey Winston KelleySteve PostDillon WelchKim Coon

References