Motorsport News

A Better Idea for Bowman Gray

Questions Answered After Chase Elliott Shines in NASCAR's Return to Bowman Gray

1. The Clash at Bowman Gray Was Worth the Wait

If NASCAR fans broke out into WWE-style chants during a race, there would absolutely have been at least one “this is awesome” chorus ringing out through Bowman Gray Stadium Sunday night (Feb. 2). Maybe more than one since perennial Most Popular Driver winner Chase Elliott also took home the trophy, holding off Ryan Blaney in expert fashion as the laps wound down.

Considering the racetrack/football stadium hadn’t hosted a NASCAR Cup Series event in more than 50 years, no one really knew what to expect. Would it be a constant wreckfest, particularly with no points on the line?

As it turned out, no. The racing was fun and mostly what you’d think would be the best-case scenario on a quarter-mile oval with Cup cars. Drivers ran into each other a lot with accordion-style bumping on darn near every lap, but because speeds were low, cars could be moved out of the way without necessarily smashing them.

Whatever you might think of the way NASCAR’s decision-makers go about their business, there’s no denying they have tried a lot of different things over the past few years; different venues, the choose rule, option tires and the list goes on and on. As my colleague Dalton Hopkins rightly pointed out, however, this year’s Clash was one of the few times it felt like drivers, fans and the media all approved of something.

Packed stands, a fun race and universal acclaim aren’t things that all come together for NASCAR all that often, so the Clash should definitely return to Bowman Gray in 2026, right? As Jake from State Farm said to Patrick Mahomes in a recent ad, “Well … “

2. That Doesn’t Mean We Can’t Find a Better Use for Bowman Gray

I was this close to using this point to argue for a points race at Bowman Gray. If the Cup Series championship is supposed to be decided among the best at navigating the widest number of track types, why not a quarter-mile oval too? Eventually, I decided against choosing violence in the first column of 2025.

It still seems a bit of a waste to keep the Clash in Winston-Salem indefinitely. It’s not an apples-to-apples comparison by any means, but there were diminishing returns for holding the Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum once the novelty wore off. It will take longer than a year or two, for sure, but eventually the same thing will likely happen at Bowman Gray if NASCAR keeps its preseason showcase there.

The NASCAR…

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