Ryan Preece endured freezing temperatures, sleet, and a record number of cautions to win the 2026 Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium on Wednesday night, delivering RFK Racing a hard‑fought and morale‑boosting exhibition victory.
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Ryan Preece overcame snow and rain to win NASCAR's inaugural race of 2026, the Cook Out Clash exhibition race, on Wednesday at historic Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Never before in the thousands of races at Bowman Gray Stadium has one ever seen all of the different variables that Wednesday's NASCAR Cook Out Clash saw.
It’s been a wild night at the Madhouse. Drivers have been trading paint throughout the NASCAR Cup Series Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium; Bubba Wallace and Carson Hocevar had a run-in with 20 laps to go.
The layout of the Coliseum might be small, but the tempers are larger than life. During the halfway break of the Cook Out Clash, Daniel Suarez let his team know exactly how he felt about the racing etiquette, or lack thereof, displayed by his competitors.
The NASCAR season is back. Officials made the call to let teams fuel up as a few cars began to run out of fuel late. Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott both brought out cautions after running out of gas, and that led to the decision to let teams put more in the cars.
Kyle Larson, the defending NASCAR Cup Series champion, had issues with his fuel during the 2026 NASCAR Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium. With less than 50 laps in the race, Larson began losing pace with the rest of the drivers, and he said on his radio that he was out of fuel.
Things have gotten wild at Bowman Gray Stadium. The Cook Out Clash has been full of cautions and wrecks. Of course, on wet weather tires and drivers bumping each other for position, you expect nothing less.
In a race postponed three days due to wintry weather, Ryan Preece drove away to the win by 1.7 seconds over William Byron, joining Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon (1994) and Denny Hamlin (2006) as the only drivers to win The Clash before picking up their first points-paying Cup Series win.
Riley Herbst's year-one struggles in the Cup Series have not gone unnoticed. At a press conference today, Denny Hamlin said he expects better results from Herbst in 2026.
Rain has arrived at Bowman Gray Stadium and after causing a delay at the halfway mark, it helped result in a caution on Lap 102. It involved some heavy hitters in Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, and Kyle Busch, who all went for a spin in Turns 3 and 4.
The Madhouse has brought out the inner madman in Daniel Suárez, who’s been quite busy in the first 100 laps of Wednesday’s Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium.
Even if they are friends off the track, Ryan Blaney was giving Bubba Wallace zero slack during the Clash at Bowman Gray. This race is physical, and the laps go by quickly.
Even though he came up short in his epic battle with Austin Cindric, Corey LaJoie kept a good spirit about the results. LaJoie, filling in for Brad Keselowski, almost put the No.
Despite aggravating a shoulder injury in a fall, NASCAR driver/owner Denny Hamlin told reporters on Wednesday that he will not have surgery and plans to compete in the 2026 NASCAR season.
What a race for the two transfer spots in the Last Chance Qualifier. Josh Berry dominated the race, and Austin Cindric took the final spot on the last lap to make the big show.
After a winter that felt twice as long as usual, capped off by a snowstorm that buried Bowman Gray Stadium and pushed the event to midweek, the engines finally returned to life in North Carolina.