Already postponed twice, NASCAR’s The Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium is still moving forward with a race date of Wednesday, February 4. The non-points event has been victim of snowy winter storms that has shut down roadways and long periods of freezing temperatures.
With a slight warming trend and revised schedule, the talk can now hopefully shift away from snow totals and to what NASCAR Cup Series drivers are doing to get ready for the day’s events.
Taking on Cold Temps and Track Surface
The track inside Bowman Gray Stadium is a flat 0.25-mile oval around a football field. Like any race no matter the track size, tire temperatures are a large key to success. Tire specialists say a lower air pressure to start a race will be needed.
However, the minimum weight of a NCS car is 3,300 lbs. without fuel and driver. When those two factors are added, the weight can possibly bring that up to 3,500 lbs. That’s a lot to take into the flat turns of BGS in the early going.
Josh Berry is driving the No. 21 Ford for Wood Brothers Racing again this year. He offered some insight regarding the weather-related challenges
“The weather is going to be interesting to follow, obviously, from just the schedule side of things and how much track time we get or don’t get and if that becomes a factor,” Berry said. “I think the biggest thing is prioritizing getting heat in your tires early in runs, early in practice and obviously qualifying.
“That’s the biggest thing that stands out when it’s cold like this is just making more of an effort to do that, but, really, inside the car it doesn’t change too much outside of that.”
Kyle Busch Looking for Return to Winning Ways
Last year was the first running of The Clash at BGS in the event’s 48-year history. Known as “The Madhouse” because tempers flare quickly in the tight racing conditions, Chase Elliott was all smiles in 2025.
He was fastest in practice, sat on the pole and led 171 of 200 circuits enroute to Victory Lane. This year, he will be the target for other drivers to surpass.
One of them is Kyle Busch in the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. Winless with the team the past two seasons, he has a new crew chief in Jim Pohlman to help get back to his winning ways starting with The Clash.
“Bowman Gray was really great last year, I feel like the fans really supported that race,” Busch said. “NASCAR’s most popular driver won the race, so that was good for everyone, too. But we want to be a little bit more out front and be battling for the win.
“Bowman Gray is cool because it’s so short. It’s so small and the fans are right there on top of everything. It’s a really tight bull ring and hard to get around there, hard to pass with these big heavy stock cars.”
Can Chaos Ensue Again
Last year became somewhat chaotic with beating and banging elevated a little more than other short tracks like Martinsville Speedway and Bristol Motor Speedway.
“Yeah, I think we saw plenty of it last year,” said Busch, a two-time NCS Champion. “The heat races, the last chance qualifier race – there were guys crawling over guys and spinning each other out.
“It got pretty hectic and chaotic, and even in the feature race there was some of that going on towards the back of the field. There were definitely some moments there where some guys were running over each other, and guys got mad at each other for no reason.
“You are going to hit each other. It’s inevitable, it’s going to happen. But the nature of just getting a little bump-bump and then getting mad about it and trying to retaliate, that’s just the nature of the sport I guess we are in today.”
How to Catch the Chaos
The practice and qualifying session is slated to go from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. ET to determine most of the 23-car starting line-up. That can be seen on FOX Sports App. The 75-lap Last Chance Qualifier starts at 4:30 p.m. and the all green 200-lap The Clash at 6 p.m.
Those events will air live on FOX, HBO Max, MRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
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