Daytona Beach is getting its old opening act back. NASCAR’s exhibition Clash will return to Daytona International Speedway for the 2027 season, bringing the preseason spectacle back to the track where it built its reputation. The Wheatley Vodka Clash is scheduled for Saturday, February 13, 2027, eight days before the Daytona 500.
According to WCCB Charlotte, the Clash was held at Daytona from 1979 through 2021 before moving to a temporary quarter-mile circuit inside the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for three years. It spent the last two seasons at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and does not count toward NASCAR’s championship points.
The Clash Returns To Daytona’s Big Oval
RACER reports that Daytona International Speedway made the return official Tuesday, with Wheatley American Vodka taking over as the event’s entitlement sponsor. The race was last run on Daytona’s famous oval in 2020; the 2021 edition stayed at the speedway but used its road course before NASCAR began experimenting with new venues.
That makes the 2027 event the first Clash on Daytona’s 2.5-mile trioval since 2020, even though the event itself was last held at the complex in 2021. The Saturday night race is intended to revive the familiar Speedweeks rhythm and give teams an early superspeedway test before the season’s biggest curtain-raiser.
A Prelude To The Daytona 500
The 69th Daytona 500 is already scheduled for Sunday, February 21, 2027, according to Daytona International Speedway. With the Clash arriving the weekend before, Daytona Beach will get an extra marquee NASCAR night before the qualifying races, support-series events and the Great American Race take over the venue.
The move also follows a messy 2026 edition at Bowman Gray, where winter weather disrupted preparations and forced NASCAR to work around snow, ice and dangerous travel conditions. In its own account of that ordeal, NASCAR said safety, parking, emergency access and the logistics of moving teams were all factors in keeping the event in Winston-Salem.
For Daytona Beach, the return adds another major event to an already crowded winter racing calendar. Hoodline’s Speedweeks coverage previously showed how quickly the city fills with teams, haulers and fans before the Daytona 500, and the Clash will now get that party started even earlier.
