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NASCAR, Motorsport, USA Clash at Bowman Gray Feb 2, 2025 WInston-Salem, North Carolina, USA NASCAR Cup Series driver Chase Elliot 9 and NASCAR Cup Series driver Chris Buescher 17 lead the field during the Clash at Bowman Gray at Bowman Gray Stadium. WInston-Salem Bowman Gray Stadium North Carolina USA, EDITORIAL USE ONLY PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxONLY Copyright: xPeterxCaseyx 20250203_pjc_bc1_318
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NASCAR, Motorsport, USA Clash at Bowman Gray Feb 2, 2025 WInston-Salem, North Carolina, USA NASCAR Cup Series driver Chase Elliot 9 and NASCAR Cup Series driver Chris Buescher 17 lead the field during the Clash at Bowman Gray at Bowman Gray Stadium. WInston-Salem Bowman Gray Stadium North Carolina USA, EDITORIAL USE ONLY PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxONLY Copyright: xPeterxCaseyx 20250203_pjc_bc1_318
The big hype for NASCAR’s 2026 opener melted down. Yet NASCAR is nowhere close to melting the snowy disaster that unfolded at Bowman Gray Stadium. The 0.250-mile paved short-track oval is an iconic racetrack that exhibits close-quarters racing and energetic fan power. A weather-battered event stole the luster from these elements, leading to a demand for a return to Daytona. However, an insider deflated this demand with valid reasons.
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Wooing more chaos for NASCAR
“I don’t think we’ll see it at Daytona because the amount of work the speedway cars take and then risking wrecking, you know, at a high level, and then you’re losing cars, and like the money aspect, the business part of that part is really tough. Even turning the lights on at Daytona versus turning the lights on at Bowman Gray is a lot different, right?” NASCAR FOX analyst Mamba Smith said.
After the 2026 Cook Out Clash race, a round of demands sprang up on social media, with people longing for Daytona. NASCAR held the Clash event originally at the racetrack in Daytona Beach, Florida, from 1979 until 2021. In 2022, the exhibition migrated west to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and spent three years there. It debuted at Bowman Gray in 2025.
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NASCAR, Motorsport, USA Coke Zero Sugar 400 Aug 23, 2025 Daytona Beach, Florida, USA Drivers get the green flag to start the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway.
The racing at Daytona was good, and the weather is normally warm. Also, Daytona has many things to do outside of the track. Winston-Salem, North Carolina, does not meet two of the aforementioned qualities. Nevertheless, Mamba Smith’s argument points to other issues plaguing Daytona. It is a superspeedway that is prone to frequent wrecks due to NASCAR’s Next-Gen car and its aerodynamic properties. So, incurring hefty crash expenses for an exhibition race at the start of the season may not be ideal.
The Clash race witnessed a record 17 cautions, which unfolded due to two reasons. First was the quarter-mile racing inside Bowman Gray Stadium. Secondly, the weather played a huge factor. Snowstorms had already pushed back the race date, and drivers had to put on wet-weather tires to race in the racing after the halfway mark of the 200-lap event. What ensued was chaos as red flags peppered the race.
Yet Mamba Smith is still rooting for Bowman Gray, as is a horde of other drivers.
Positivity despite the messy fallout
Despite the weather-battered situation at Bowman Gray, several positive factors also featured the Clash race. For instance, RFK Racing reached a breakthrough with Ryan Preece, who picked up his first win in the Cup Series. After 223 Cup starts with 7 top-five finishes, Preece is launching his strongest year with RFK. Then, Shane van Gisgbergen led laps at a track which is not a road course – signalling a bright year for the Trackhouse driver.
Denny Hamlin finished fifth after weathering a storm of personal challenges in the off-season. Daniel Suarez, who moved to Spire Motorsports from Trackhouse, yielded a solid result.
These stories of success are not really fringe, as they uplift Bowman Gray’s potential. That is what Ryan Blaney emphasized, trying to deflate the weather debacle. “I don’t think you can judge a race or a track off of that weird weather circumstance,” said the 2023 Cup Series champion. “”Just the way [in the rain], calamity as it would be with anyplace. I appreciate the fans sticking around all night. I bet that was brutal in those aluminum grandstands. Cold a–es up there.”
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Clearly, Bowman Gray stole hearts despite getting caught in the rain and the snow. Let’s wait and see what NASCAR decides for the future.