{"id":49364,"date":"2025-02-01T17:50:20","date_gmt":"2025-02-01T23:50:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=49364"},"modified":"2025-02-02T19:19:56","modified_gmt":"2025-02-03T01:19:56","slug":"nascar-saturday-bowman-gray-notebook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/01\/nascar-saturday-bowman-gray-notebook\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR: Saturday Bowman Gray Notebook"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

A general view of cars during practice for the Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium on February 01, 2025 in Winston Salem, North Carolina. (Photo by Sean Gardner\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

Ryan Blaney already has a history at Bowman Gray Stadium<\/b><\/p>\n

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. \u2014 Ryan Blaney\u2019s memory isn\u2019t crystal clear when it comes to his exploits at the historic venue that will host Sunday\u2019s Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium (8 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).<\/p>\n

\"\"

Ryan Blaney, driver of the #12 Menards\/Great Lakes Flooring Ford Christopher Bell, driver of the #20 Mobil 1 Toyota Burt Myers, driver of the #50 Citrusafe Cleaners Chevrolet and Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 Sport Clips Haircuts Toyota drive during practice for the Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium on February 01, 2025 in Winston Salem, North Carolina. (Photo by Sean Gardner\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Blaney was \u201c9 or 10 years old\u201d when he won at the quarter-mile Bowman Gray track in a Bandolero. As a small child in a small race car, the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion was impressed by the magnitude of the experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cI ran here 20 years ago or so in a Bandolero, so it\u2019s nice to be back,\u201d Blaney said Saturday before practice and heat races at the quarter-mile. \u201cObviously, the reputation of this place, a lot of passionate people around the area love Bowman Gray, and the track is really historic.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a good (place) for this Clash, to have the ability to move this race around to different parts of the country, so that\u2019s nice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

Ryan Blaney, driver of the #12 Menards\/Great Lakes Flooring Ford enters his car during practice for the Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium on February 01, 2025 in Winston Salem, North Carolina. (Photo by Sean Gardner\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

To Blaney\u2019s point, last year\u2019s Clash completed a three-year tenure at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on a temporary quarter-mile track. At Bowman Gray, the Clash comes to NASCAR\u2019s oldest weekly racing facility, one that is steeped in the history and lore of stock car racing.<\/p>\n

Blaney grew up in nearby High Point, N.C., and had a ready-made fan base of sorts when he raced at Bowman Gray.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a lot of friends and family that came here a lot on the weekends,\u201d he said. \u201cI had some buddies that were at that race, and they it was pretty cool that, \u2018Hey, you ran Bowman Gray\u2026 I watched you At Bowman Gray.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cBack then, in a Bandolero, this place was massive, right? It\u2019s just funny putting it into perspective of what you don\u2019t know. (Now) it\u2019s the smallest place we go to with what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chase Elliott thinks the Clash has a future overseas<\/b><\/p>\n

From its inception in 1979 through 2021, the NASCAR Clash, which ran under a variety of appellations, was part of early-season activities at Daytona International Speedway.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Chase Elliott, driver of the #9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet drives during practice for the Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium on February 01, 2025 in Winston Salem, North Carolina. (Photo by Sean Gardner\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

In 2022, however, the Clash moved to the L.A. Coliseum, where Cup drivers raced on a temporary purpose-built track.<\/p>\n

That move\u2014and this year\u2019s visit to Bowman Gray Stadium\u2014have opened a world of new possibilities for the exhibition event, and 2020 Cup champion Chase Elliott has the vision to go with it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI kind of like (the) thought of potentially getting outside of the United States,\u201d Elliott said. \u201cI know we\u2019re kind of testing the waters a little bit with the Mexico City race this year, but I think the real test would be going overseas, and I think this race would be a good opportunity to do something like that, where it wouldn\u2019t be committing to a points race, you know\u2014somewhere that\u2019s a long ways away\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cI think for me, I\u2019m not saying one way or another, I\u2019m just saying that everything is on the table. I\u2019d be good either way, whether it\u2019s here or Daytona. If they want to do it in Europe, if they want to not do it at all, I\u2019d be fine with any of the above.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tim Brown is fighting to prove he belongs in the Clash<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

Flaring tempers and fisticuffs between drivers are expected parts of the Bowman Gray Stadium experience.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s that type of race track. Narrow and typically bottom-dominant, Bowman Gray is more likely to see passes made with bumpers, rather than with raw speed.<\/p>\n

Tim Brown says he has been involved in about 10 fights during his 30-year driving career and claims to have won them all. But his racing resume is far more impressive, with 101 feature wins and 12 modified championships at the Winston-Salem track.<\/p>\n

For Brown, competing against the NASCAR Cup Series regulars in the Clash represents the fulfillment of a dream, but the 53-year-old from Cana, Va., isn\u2019t interested in running the race in the No. 15 Rick Ware Racing Ford just to say he appeared in it.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs far as being special, it\u2019s very special just to be here, but I\u2019m a racer and I want to win this thing,\u201d said Brown, who has spent time in Ford\u2019s Cup simulator to prepare for the Clash. \u201cThat\u2019s why we\u2019re here, and we\u2019ve worked really hard to build the best car at RWR that we could build to put on a good show\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to run well, and I want to show that we deserve to be here, that it\u2019s just not a \u2018Hey, let\u2019s give this old guy an opportunity to go ride around in a Cup car.\u2019 I feel like I deserve to be here. I\u2019ve dedicated my whole life to racing, and I\u2019ve worked my butt off and here we are and make the best of it.”<\/p>\n

Interviews:<\/h3>\n

Ryan Blaney (No. 12 Team Penske Ford) and Chase Elliott (No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet) –<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Kyle Busch (No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet) and Austin Dillon (No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet)-<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/PRODMEDIACENTER1BBOWMANGRAY01FEB2025NCSDillonBusch.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n

Denny Hamlin (No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota) –<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/PRODMEDIACENTER1CBOWMANGRAY01FEB2025NCSHamlin.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n

Tim Brown (No. 15 Rick Ware Racing Ford) –<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/PRODMEDIACENTER1DBOWMANGRAY01FEB2025NCSBrown.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n

Kyle Larson (No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet) –<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/PRODMEDIACENTER1EBOWMANGRAY01FEB2025NCSLarson.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n

Chris Buescher (No. 17 RFK Racing Ford) and Chase Elliott (No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet) –<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/PRODMEDIACENTER2ABOWMANGRAY01FEB2025NCSBuescherElliott.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service Ryan Blaney already has a history at Bowman Gray Stadium WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. \u2014 Ryan Blaney\u2019s memory isn\u2019t crystal clear when it comes to his exploits at the historic venue that will host Sunday\u2019s Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium (8 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":49352,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[982,500,16,435],"class_list":["post-49364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-bowman-gray-stadium","tag-chase-elliott","tag-nascar","tag-ryan-blaney"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/GettyImages-2197146371-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1706&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-cQc","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49364"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49364\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49382,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49364\/revisions\/49382"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}