By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service

NASCAR Clash honors grass roots racing with visit to Bowman Gray Stadium

From a novel experiment in one of America’s largest urban markets, NASCAR’s season-opening exhibition races moves to a venue steeped in racing history.

The NASCAR Cup Series travels to NASCAR’s oldest weekly racing track for the Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium (8 p.m. ET Sunday on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Photo courtesy of NASCAR

After a successful three-year tenure in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the NASCAR Cup Series opener travels cross-country to NASCAR’s oldest weekly racing track, morphing into the Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium (8 p.m. ET Sunday on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Reigning Cup Series champion Joey Logano applauded the move to Winston-Salem, N.C., in a video conference call with reporters on Wednesday afternoon.

“I think it always draws up a little bit more excitement and people talk about it more when it’s something new,” said Logano, who won the first Clash at the Coliseum in 2022. “‘What are we going to see at Bowman Gray? I don’t know.’ When we went to L.A. the first time, remember all the talk of what that race was going to be like, and no one had a clue?”

To Logano, the “unknown” factor is a critical aspect of the move. So is NASCAR’s ability to bring its events to a wide array of fans in different markets.

“It draws up a lot of hype, which is good, and you’re also bringing it to the race fan,” Logano said. “I’ve said this many times before, but it is hard to ask a family of any size to travel a long distance to go to a sporting event. It’s hard to do that, whether you have young kids or older kids, getting hotel rooms, getting the tickets, it becomes expensive. These days, it’s hard to do that.

“So, I think moving our races around, going to our race fans is great. When you look at what Winston-Salem is to our sport, and that whole region, we all see the numbers and there are a lot of NASCAR fans there, a ton of them, and so going to our race fans is kind of going back to grass roots up there, but it’s also cool that we’re giving race fans that might not have been able to go to other races an opportunity to see a race.”

Though the Los Angeles venue and Bowman Gray Stadium are at opposite ends of the country—and opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to NASCAR history—some aspects remain the same.

The purpose-built track in Los Angeles and the traditional track at Bowman Gray are the same length, a quarter-mile. The formats of the events likewise are similar, though heavy rains forced abandonment of the original schedule last year, with the main event moved from Sunday to Saturday as the only way to complete the race.

The Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium will feature practice/qualifying and four heat races on Saturday, with a 75-lap last-chance qualifier and 200-lap main event on Sunday, 50 laps longer than the event in Los Angeles.

Michael McDowell, who has moved from Front Row Motorsports to Spire Motorsports this season, has been watching YouTube videos to get the flavor of the rough-and-tumble racing at Bowman Gray.

“I hope it’s nothing like those (videos),” McDowell quipped in a question-and-answer session with reporters on Wednesday. “I’m sure YouTube only gives you the algorithm of the very best of Bowman Gray.

“But we all kind of know what it is going into it, that it’s going to be a beating, banging race, just because of how tight the corners are and how narrow it is. It’s tough to pass. But I feel like, going into the Coliseum, we all thought (we knew) what it was going to be, and it turned out to be a pretty awesome event…

“So, I feel like—my hopes are—that we do a better job than most of putting on a good show that doesn’t turn into guys driving through the infield.”

If history is any indication, track position will be critical at Bowman Gray, placing great importance on finishing positions in Saturday’s heats. NASCAR’s top division hasn’t raced at Bowman Gray in 54 years, but in the 23-year span from 1959 through 1971, no Cup winner came from outside the second row.

In the last 14 Cup races at the track, the pole winner took the checkered flag 10 times, with the second-place starter winning four times.

“I’m sure it’ll be tough to pass this weekend,” said 2021 Cup Series champion Kyle Larson. “I hope we can give the fans the kind of exciting racing they’re used to seeing on a Saturday night in the summer.

“I’m sure the energy will be high in the stands—and be crazy on the track, too.”