Dana White of UFC fame announced recently that he is stepping into another high-octane arena, NASCAR racing. White won’t be driving, but he will sponsor a stock car via his whiskey company, Howler Head Whiskey. And to raise the stakes even higher, White said he’s willing to wager thousands of dollars that the car finishes atop the podium in its first-ever race.
“I’m going to bet anywhere from $10,000-25,000 on this car,” White said. “I don’t know what the odds are yet, but I want to win. I love this type of stuff.”
White says Howler Head Whiskey partnered with Trackhouse Racing — a professional racing team co-owned by singer Pitbull — to sponsor a car for this weekend’s NASCAR race at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum.
Engineers in Charlotte manufactured the car and its new sponsored wrap before shipping it to Las Vegas for white to inspect, himself. From Vegas, the car shipped to Los Angeles for the opening weekend of the 2022 NASCAR season.
The car features a red and yellow two-tone paint job with black shading and the whiskey’s logo on both the hood and side paneling. Dana White decided to dip his toe into NASCAR after a business meeting with Pitbull’s business partner Justin Marks, who pitched him a vision of crossover interest between racing and fighting from fans.
“I’m into this,” White said. “I love the idea our fanbase does cross over with NASCAR and the NFL. I love this type of stuff.”
White said he won’t be able to attend the Busch Light Clash at the LA Coliseum in person; but he will be watching. He also said he expects a competitive race and a fast car.
“The car is definitely fast. No matter what the odds are, anything can happen in a fight, and anything can happen in a race. So, I’m in.”
NASCAR heads west for the Busch Light Clash
The Busch Light Clash begins today at 3 P.M. ET with qualifying heats to determine the 23-driver field. The race is a first of its kind for Los Angeles. Organizers hauled in thousands of pounds of earth and asphalt to temporarily pave the historic Coliseum for the race. Afterward, the entire track will be deconstructed and hauled away for other uses.
The non-points main event, which begins at 6 P.M. ET on FOX, kicks off the racing season. Typically held in Daytona the week before the Daytona 500, organizers moved the race to the west coast in an effort to debut NASCAR’s Next Gen cars with a bit more national fanfare. The Daytona 500 will run in two weeks on February 20, given that the NFL pushed the Super Bowl back a week on the calendar.
Some of the drivers you can expect to see this weekend are Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott, Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick, William Byron, and Joey Logano.
