The Wheatley Vodka Clash is an annual non-championship pre-season NASCAR Cup Series exhibition event held in February before the season-opening Daytona 500. The event was held each year at Daytona International Speedway from the race's inception in 1979 until 2021, after which it was moved to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in 2022 as part of launching the seventh-generation chassis. In 2025, the Clash was moved to Bowman Gray Stadium before being placed back at Daytona in 2027. Previously at Daytona, the race, along with the ARCA Menards Series' season-opening General Tire 200, served as the kickoff events for Daytona Speedweeks. The event is one of two non-points races on the Cup Series schedule, the other being the NASCAR All-Star Race.
The event has been sponsored by Anheuser-Busch (which owns the Busch Beer and Budweiser brands) for most of its history. In 2013, Anheuser-Busch moved their Daytona Speedweeks race sponsorship to the Duel races after the departure of longtime Duel title sponsor Gatorade. Cup Series title sponsor Sprint became the title sponsor for this race, which was renamed from "The Shootout" to "The Unlimited" (to promote Sprint's cell phone unlimited plan). When Sprint left NASCAR after the 2016 season, Advance Auto Parts became the title sponsor in 2017 and the event was renamed to its original name of "The Clash". Advance Auto Parts did not return as the title sponsor in 2020, which opened the door for Anheuser-Busch (which dropped its sponsorship of the Duel races in 2016) returned for a second stint as the title sponsor, and the Busch Clash name was brought back. This lasted until 2024, when Cook Out restaurant chain replaced Busch when the race moved to Bowman Gray Stadium in 2025. In 2027, the race was moved back to Daytona with the Wheatley Vodka Clash.
Background and history The event was first known as the Busch Clash and was the brain child of Monty Roberts. Roberts was the brand manager of the newly formed Busch Beer (formerly Busch Bavarian Beer) and the race was seen as a way to promote the new brand. Roberts had been successful introducing Mercury into racing while working at Ford, and had also been a part of Ontario Motor Speedway. His experiences led him to believe that racing fans were loyal brand followers. The initial format was set up as a 50-mile sprint race, with no pit stops, with a field consisting of the previous season's pole position winners. Inviting the fastest drivers from the previous season headlined the event as the "fastest race" of the season. The race established an incentive for drivers to earn pole positions during the NASCAR season, which up to that time, still offered relatively tiny cash prizes. Likewise, at no time have pole winners earned bonus championship points.
The event was also seen as a way to expand the Speedweeks activities leading up to the Daytona 500. Previously, the weekend before the Daytona 500 featured only minor support events, and the Winston Cup competitors ordinarily would not have taken to the track until Wednesday. The Busch Clash allowed the Winston Cup regulars to kick off the week live on CBS.
The 1987 race, won by Bill Elliott, was completed at an average speed of 197.802 mph. It stands as the fastest sanctioned race in the history of NASCAR (though it was not an official points-paying event).
The 2013 race (renamed the Sprint Unlimited at Daytona) introduced a new format incorporating the results of fan voting into certain aspects of the race.
In 2017, the race was renamed the Advance Auto Parts Clash after Advance Auto Parts signed a multi-year deal to sponsor the event. The 2017 race was delayed to Sunday due to persistent rain, marking the first time the race has been run during the day since 2006.
In 2020, Busch Beer returned to assume naming rights for the race, once again dubbing it the Busch Clash.
In 2021, the race was run on the road course layout, originally intended as a temporary effort in order to have teams use a sixth-generation chassis when the seventh-generation chassis was to have debuted at the Daytona 500 that year. Teams would not have had enough seventh-generation cars available for the Daytona 500, so NASCAR intended to use the sixth-generation road course car (which can be repurposed into an Xfinity Series chassis) at Daytona for cost savings.
Originally, it was planned that the 2022 Clash would return to a standard schedule (the 2021 Speedweeks schedule was shortened because of Super Bowl LV in nearby Tampa), taking place with sixth-generation cars on the road course. That changed when the -22 NFL year moved Super Bowl LVI back a week and into the traditional Speedweeks date after the 2022 Daytona 500 date was announced. NASCAR then moved the renamed Busch Light Clash to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, meaning the event would be held away from Daytona for the first time, and during the NFL's off-week between the conference championship games and Super Bowl LVI, which was held in nearby Inglewood for the first time. In June 2022, NASCAR announced that the Clash at the Coliseum would return for 2023 and in September 2023, NASCAR announced again that the Clash at the Coliseum would return for 2024. The 2024 Clash was bumped up from the traditional Sunday race and moved to Saturday due to weather projections, thus making it general admission.
In 2025, the race was again renamed to the Cook Out Clash and moved to Bowman Gray Stadium.
In 2027, the race was moved back to Daytona.
Race format 1979–1990 The race consisted of a single twenty-lap (50-mile) green flag sprint with no pit stops required. Caution flag laps would not count. A development series race, the Automobile Racing Club of America series, usually was featured as part of the event.
1991–1997 The race was broken into two ten-lap, green flag segments. The field was then inverted for the second ten-lap segment. Prize money was awarded for both segments for all positions. The race was broken up into two segments mainly because it had been lacking competitiveness since restrictor plates were introduced in 1988. The inversion rule added some needed excitement to the event, but its popularity continued to wane.
1998–2000 The event was renamed the Bud Shootout, and consisted of two 25-lap (62.5-mile) races, the Bud Shootout Qualifier at 11 am, and the Bud Shootout itself at 12 pm. One two-tire pit stop was required for each race. The winner of the qualifier advanced to the main event.
2001–2002 The event was renamed the Budweiser Shootout and expanded to a new distance, 70 laps (175 miles). Caution laps would be counted, but the finish had to be under green, with the Truck Series green-white-checker rule used if necessary. A minimum of one two-tire green flag pit stop was required. The Bud Shootout Qualifier was discontinued because second round qualifying for Cup races had been eliminated.
2003–2008 The race was broken up into two segments: a 20-lap segment, followed by a ten-minute intermission, concluding with a 50-lap second segment. While a pit stop was no longer required by rule, a reduction in fuel cell size (from 22 gallons to 13.5 gallons) made a fuel stop necessary. (In 2007, fuel cells were expanded to 18.5 gallons.) Many drivers also changed two tires during their fuel stop, as the time required to fuel the car allowed for a two-tire change without additional delay.
2009–2012 The first segment was expanded to 25 laps, followed by the 50-lap second segment. The total race distance was 75 laps (187.5 miles).
2013–2015 The race was divided into three segments (30 laps, 25 laps, 20-laps), with online fan voting deciding certain aspects of the race specifics (lengths of the segments, requirements for mandatory pit stops, number of drivers eliminated, etc.) The total race distance was 75 laps (187.5 miles). For 2013, the vote resulted in a mandatory four-tire pit stop, and no cars were eliminated. For 2014, voting set the starting lineup per final practice speeds and required mandatory pit stops after the second segment.
2016–2020 The race still kept its 75-lap distance, and returned to the 2003 format with one exception; the first segment was now 25 laps instead of 20 laps. The race originally consisted of a 20-lap/50-mile, "all-out sprint" for the previous season's pole position winners (considered the de facto "fastest drivers on the circuit") and added previous Daytona Pole Award winners, former Clash race winners, former Daytona 500 pole winners, and drivers who qualified for the preceding season's NASCAR playoffs. Any driver in the field had to have competed full-time in the Cup Series in 2016.
2021 The race was planned with the seventh-generation car changeover happening at the Daytona 500, which was postponed a year by supply chain and development issues from the pandemic lockdowns that severely altered the previous season. As a result, the race was moved to the road course using the previous sixth-generation cars to save teams resources and ensure the single-source new chassis (which teams did not have enough at the time) would not be potentially destroyed in crashes during the event after the previous season's Clash ended with incidents that few cars were remaining, to curb the blocking that created massive crashes. A 200 kilometer (126.35 miles to be exact) race, the segments were 15 and 20 laps, respectively.
2022–2024 On September 14, 2021, NASCAR announced that the Busch Clash would move to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. On November 9, 2021, the format for the 2022 Clash was announced:
On December 21, 2022, NASCAR made further changes to the Busch Clash by expanding transfer positions from four to five cars in each heat, thereby expanding the field from 23 to 27 cars.
The event was open for all teams and drivers for the first time in its history. A total of 350 laps in seven races. The 36 charter teams and up to four open teams participated in qualifying. Should more than 40 teams enter the race, the four fastest times in qualifying determine who advances to the heat races. Based on lap times, cars were put in one of four heat races of 25 laps each. The top four (2022) or five (2023) drivers in each 25-lap heat advanced to the feature. All non-advancing drivers in the 25-lap heats were assigned to one of two 50-lap "Last Chance Qualifiers (LCQs)." The top three drivers in each 50-lap LCQ formed the 17th-21st (2022) or 21st-26th (2023) starting positions in the feature, with the top three in the 1st LCQ lining up in the odd-numbered positions and the top 3 in the 2nd LCQ in the even-numbered positions. The highest driver in the previous year's Cup Series points standings not already advanced advanced to the feature in the last position (27th). The feature is 150 laps (green flag only in 2023).
2025 On August 17, 2024, it was announced that the Clash would move to Bowman Gray Stadium on February 2, 2025.
On January 21, 2025, NASCAR announced changes to the Clash, increasing the number of transfer positions from five cars per heat. As a result, the field size was adjusted from 27 cars back to 23 cars.
Changes for 2025 included the following: Heat Races – Four heat races of 25 laps each with only green flag laps counted. If the safety car is called in the final lap, the race is over. The top five from each heat race advance through to The Clash. B Main – One "B Main" style race of 75 green flag laps is used. Starting position determined by where they finished in their respective heat races. The LCQ race is 75 green flag laps, and would end if the safety car is called in the final lap. The top two finishers in the LCQ will transfer to The Clash. The provisional will continue to be used for the highest in points. A Main– The main event is now 200 green laps, with a break after 100 laps. If the safety car happens during Lap 200, the race will be extended.