NASCAR's exhibition Clash returning to Daytona International Speedway

Los Angeles, CA - February 06: NASCAR racers circle the quarter-mile track during the Busch Light Clash At The Coliseum, a NASCAR exhibition race at the historic LA Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles Sunday, Feb. 6, 2022. Joey Logano, #22, went on to win the race. The season-opening Clash exhibition race gets a taste of West Coast flavor in 2022, marking a historic first visit to the tradition-rich Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The event was contested around a quarter-mile asphalt oval that was built around the facilitys football field. The Los Angeles event marks the first time the preseason Clash is held outside of Daytona International Speedway since its inception in 1979, and gives the sport its first competitive look at the Next Gen car on Feb. 6 in a non-points event, including a pre-race concert by Pit Bull and Ice Cube. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times / Getty

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — NASCAR's exhibition Clash is returning to Daytona International Speedway for the first time in six years.

The sanctioning body announced the move Tuesday, saying the race will be held Feb. 13, 2027. It will be sponsored by Wheatley American Vodka.

The race doesn’t count for points and is the lead-up to the season-opening Daytona 500, which is set for Feb. 21.

Daytona hosted the Clash from 1979 to 2021. It was moved to a temporary track inside Los Angeles Memorial Stadium for three years in an effort to shake up the annual event and then relocated to tiny Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, the last two years in a return to NASCAR's grassroots racing.

The event was postponed twice this year because of historic winter weather in North Carolina. Snow-covered roads were too dangerous for teams and fans to get to the historic short track.

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