From a NASCAR Fan’s View
The NASCAR Cup Teams will be taking on the Bowman Gray Stadium quarter-mile track on Wednesday afternoon and evening. Well, that is, “IF” the weather cooperates with NASCAR’s race plan, which has already been postponed three times, and NASCAR is hoping this new scheduling is the final postponement that works.
It’s not necessarily unseasonably cold, but it’s definitely colder than it has been in many years. Record lows and record snowfalls have been recorded in the Southeast, and winter seems to be holding on, with bitter cold in many places. Winston-Salem had at least eight inches of snow and Charlotte had at least eleven inches of snow. Since the predictions seem to indicate a little less cold weather in the days ahead, it appears the NASCAR Cup Teams will make it onto the track for the newly scheduled Wednesday times.
So, what is the Cook Out Clash all about? For those that don’t know, it is a non-points, preseason event race that is mostly for the fans and a chance for the drivers to knock the rust off their skills from the winter break. For the driver that wins the race, it is something that they can say they won. (Yes, it is that special, especially for a non-points race.)
Because of the weather delay, the fact that the fans had a chance to spend some time with the drivers and see any new paint schemes, as well as find out about any of the drivers that have moved around the teams to new locations, and get familiar with the new season has probably been a little forgotten.
Last years winner, Chase Elliott, is looking to repeat again this year. Of course, if he does, he can add that feather to his cap and join the list of the few who have repeated with more than one win. That list isn’t really that long, and winning more than one Clash is highly regarded, especially if the repeats are back-to-back.
The thing that kind of makes this race unique is that it is run on a quarter-mile track. That’s pretty tight quarters for a 3400-pound car with plenty of horses under the hood. We all know what that means. Yeah, that’s right. It means it will probably prove itself to be typical short-track racing with no shortage of drivers pushing and shoving, bumping and banging to move past those they think are holding them up.
One good thing that has come from all the weather delays is that we are that much closer to getting down to the real season opener at Daytona. So, rather than spend a whole lot more time talking about it, I say we move on to the afternoon and evening of racing ahead and see how things go. How about you?
Hey, this is Russ and that’s my view… See ya next time…
All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer
© February 04, 2026 – all rights reserved
Rusty Norman, Nascarfansview.com and Justafansview.com
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