The Cookout Clash at Bowman Gray was going to be historic no matter what came of the on-track product. 

If the racing was boring or mundane, it would still be the first Cup Series race at the venue since 1971 and still bring attention to the historic weekly series track. The cherry on top?

It was a banger of a show, with fan-favorite Chase Eliott dominating the weekend and setting up the 9 team for success in 2025 right out of the gate, not without plenty of drama and good, hard racing involving the rest of the series competitors. 

From the qualifying heats on Saturday to the star studded Main on Sunday, the Clash was never short of action and controversy. Many fans and media members alike had wondered what the event would produce after the last few seasons of Cup action at quarter mile tracks like Bristol have been lackluster, but Bowman Gray’s tight confines saw the Cup cars able to throw bumpers and use the outside line after restarts. 

The weekend started in practice where the small groups of cars showed little action against one another as drivers got a feel for their cars and the track. Chase Elliott wasted no time setting down the fastest lap of Group A and setting himself up from the pole of Heat 1. Elliott proceeded to never lose the top spot as carnage ensued behind him, locking himself into the pole for the main, despite Brad Keselowski’s best efforts to utilize the track’s top groove. 

Despite the calm waters at the front of the pack, battles including Austin Dillon and Justin Haley showed us that getting to another car’s bumper at the venue wasn’t impossible, and how much give/take drivers wanted to give the driver in front of them was up to their discretion. 

Chris Buescher, Denny Hamlin and Tyler Reddick rounded out the subsequent heat winners and set the top four spots for the event. 

The sun set on the action in Winston-Salem, but fans and competitors alike knew from what we saw, the Last Chance Qualifier and Main were set to give everyone watching a show. 

The LCQ had immediate interest as it saw drivers like Kyle Larson and Ryan Blaney find themselves in a do or die scenario to make the big race. Larson, despite his less than inspiring optimism, set the pace for the field after starting 10th and hard charging to the front by lap 31, seeing minimal complication while hell broke loose behind him (including a pretty funny sibling throwdown between Ty & older brother Austin Dillon and Ty Gibbs getting a solid four feet of air on a wheelie.) 

Josh Berry took a much less calculated way to the front, using his bumper and spinning out the likes of Ty Gibbs and Erik Jones en route to a second place finish. Ryan Blaney found car issues 25 laps into the race and was forced to use the provisional to make the main.  

With the field set for the main, the track showed its ability to cause chaos with the Gen 7 Cup cars, with their bodies being able to take a beating while the big brakes and tires allowed for consistency in the apex. 

The main itself saw less conflict than the races before it. Many of the drivers found the time to sneak down to the bottom of the race track. 

While the top side proved far more capable than expected, drivers who found themselves there didn’t last long and were quick to try and find an opening. For drivers like Brad Keselowski, they saw what happened if they came down too late on a bottom lane car, as Bubba Wallace sent him sideways late in the race. 

As the race went on, Chase Elliott’s 9 was the car to beat, setting blistering times and having phenomenal restarts when the green was flown. 

He led 171 of 200 laps, only losing position to Denny Hamlin in that small pocket because of a tenacious move from the JGR 11 which shoved Elliott up the track. However it wouldn’t last long as the NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet proved again it was the fastest machine of the weekend. Elliott then kept the lead for the rest of the race and brought it home, becoming the first Cup Series sanctioned race victor at the historic bullring in over half a century. 

“I know it’s not a points race, but it is nice to win,” said Elliott in the post race. “Y’all (the fans) deserved it. I hope it was a good show for ya. This environment is special and this is a place that has had a deep history in NASCAR and I think they deserve this event, truly”. 

Looking ahead 

Next for the drivers and teams is an “off week”, however most of it will be spent going over film and getting extra time to prepare for speedweeks and the Daytona 500, stock car racing’s crown jewel. These groups will need the extra prep, with over 20 members of the field having something different about their team procedurally. 

These teams either have new drivers, crew chiefs, manufacturers or other changes in their organization. Take the 23 car for example, which finds Bubba Wallace working with new crew chief Charles Denike.

Denike had prior experience in Trucks as a CC, but this is his first run in Cup. The 23 seemed average all weekend, with Bubba taking advantage of incidents as the race waned on and picking off a few drivers, finding himself in 5th at the end of the event. 

“Since the first day I met Charles, he’s just been super on it,” said Wallace. “He’s not afraid to tell me ‘I need it like this’ and I’m not afraid to tell him the same thing. I asked him before the race, ‘You nervous?’ and he said ‘No, no, not at all’ but ask me before we go to Daytona, he might be.” 

Wallace and the 23 team are just some of the fresh faces in new places we will see try their hand at the Great American Race, and with a superspeedway being virtually different in every way from a short track like Bowman Gray, it will be the true start to the season for these teams. 

Takeaways 

Cam: What a venue, what a race and what a start to our season! Mixed emotions from a lot of people heading into the event, with those sentiments remaining after the wreckfest that was the Madhouse Classic. 

Once the professionals took the track however, things reached a wonderful middle ground of premier stock car racing and the beating and banging the NASCAR Cup Series looks to produce at these short tracks. 

I hope this bodes well for the future of the short track in NASCAR in that they find something in the tire and or aero data that points them in the right direction, because what we got tonight is exactly what the schedule is missing.

The only somewhat negative takeaway I have is that the leaders still found themselves pretty separated, but there weren’t enough green flag laps in lapped traffic This also was yet another stinker by FOX, who felt compelled to zoom in on single cars and miss battles throughout the track. 

Hey FOX, I know sponsors matter, but I feel like giving the other team’s love also bodes well for you, and we don’t miss much. Burt Myers effectively self spun going too hard in the corner yet Ricky Stenhouse was given the blame, all because of some terrible camera work. 

Jack: The one thing I love about being pessimistic is when I’m wrong, it’s usually a lot of fun and boy was I wrong about the Clash at Bowman Gray. Those races were the gold standard for stock car short track racing and part of me wishes this event didn’t end. 

My only complaint with the event was the atrocious FOX Sports production and commentary making the action on track hard to follow. Clint Bowyer continues to struggle as the Darrell Waltrip replacement and there were several crowd shots as the leaders were two-wide. 

I hope this was just a warm-up for the rest of the season, with everyone finding their grooves, but it’s a shame the event wasn’t as welcoming to new fans as it could have been.

NASCAR belongs on short tracks that let the drivers throw elbows and fenders and I hope the Cup Series returns to Bowman Gray in some form soon. I would legitimately enjoy this as a points-paying race, just imagine the chaos.