Clash Format At Bowman Gray A Callback To Racing’s Past

The Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium features a typical short-track format not normally used in NASCAR Cup Series competition. (John Harrelson/Nigel Kinrade Photography)

WINSTON SALEM, N.C. – NASCAR’s return to its roots for this weekend’s Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium features a format reminiscent of the glory days of short track racing.

Unlike the NASCAR Cup Series’ 36 point-paying races throughout the season, which set the lineup solely by qualifying before the main event, the Clash at Bowman Gray will utilize a combination of qualifying and heat races to formalize the drivers that will take part in the 200-lap headliner.

Three timed practice sessions will kick off the proceedings on Saturday, with the final session’s times used as qualifying and splitting the field into groups for four 25-lap heat races.

The fastest qualifier will earn the pole for the first heat, second fastest will start on the pole of the second heat, third fastest will start on the pole of the third heat, fourth fastest will start from the pole of the fourth heat, and so on until all cars are placed.

Each heat race will only count green-flag laps, with no overtime in play, and the top five finishers will advance directly into the Clash for a total of 20 drivers moving on out of the heats.

Among the heat transfers, the winners of the heats will occupy the first two rows of the Clash starting grid, with the heat-one winner on the pole, the heat-two winner on the outside pole, and the winners of heats three and four sharing row two.

The remaining transfer cars will line up behind accordingly based on their heat finishes.

Those that fail to move on through the heats will compete in a 75-lap last chance qualifier, again with only green-flag laps counting, and the top two finishers from the LCQ starting 21st and 22nd in the Clash.

The 23rd and final Clash starting spot will be a provisional reserved for the driver highest in last year’s point standings not already in the starting field via the heats or LCQ.

Sunday night’s 200-lap Clash feature will run in primetime with only green-flag laps counting. A timed halfway break will occur at lap 100, and the Clash must finish under green.

It’s a rough-and-tumble, old-school feel that looks to generate an immense amount of buzz, according to defending Cup Series champion Joey Logano, a two-time Clash winner who topped the event in 2017 at Daytona (Fla.) Int’l Speedway and in 2022 at the Los Angeles (Calif.) Memorial Coliseum.

“The pressure feels a lot different when you go [to the Clash], only because there’s nothing to lose, really per se and everything to win,” Logano noted. “There’s a trophy to win and a lot of really cool factors to be the first to win at a racetrack, and it’s nice to get a little momentum built and all those type of things. There are a lot of reasons to want to go race, but if something was to happen, it’s not the end of the world.

“Would I be upset if you turn on TV and I get dumped? … Absolutely, because I want to win, but it doesn’t affect the rest of our season, and I think all of the drivers probably feel similar, I would assume,” Logano added. “If you win, awesome. If you don’t win, yeah, you might be mad for a few hours, but you’re going to get over it and start thinking about Daytona.”

Does that mean there won’t be crumpled sheet metal and tempers flaring when all is said and done? That’s doubtful, Logano admitted.

“I don’t think it’s one of those racetracks where you’re going to want to make a bunch of enemies, but at the same time, I don’t know if there are going to be many passes made without contact,” he mused. “I think there’s kind of what’s acceptable and what’s not, and I think everyone kind of knows what that [line] is.”

But as noted short track journalist – and a respected colleague of mine – Matt Weaver noted as the grounds at the Stadium opened Saturday morning, there’s just a special feel to this year’s Clash that hasn’t been there in the past.

“This race, this year, this place … it’s a love letter to everything that makes the sport great,” Weaver said.

As many Winston Salem locals who attend Bowman Gray’s Saturday night weekly races each summer will tell you, there’s a reason the Stadium is nicknamed ‘The Madhouse’.

The Cook Out Clash will likely illustrate why when the lights come on Saturday and Sunday night.

Broadcast coverage of the Cook Out Clash from Bowman Gray Stadium is slated for Saturday at 6 p.m. ET on FS1 for qualifying and heat races, and Sunday at 6 p.m. ET on FOX for the last chance qualifier and 200-lap main event.

All of the on-track action at Bowman Gray will also be carried on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.