NASCAR Cup Series driver Ryan Preece. Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Ryan Preece wins wild, weather-plagued Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium

By Samuel Stubbs | Last updated Feb 4, 2026 9:55 PM ET

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.

The exhibition event was pushed to Wednesday due to a historic snowstorm, was hit by rain and sleet at the halfway mark, had 18 caution flags, took over three hours to complete and saw several drivers run out of fuel.

And in the end, it was a journeyman driver in RFK Racing's Ryan Preece who pulled away from William Byron in the closing laps and scored the win.

The win does not officially count for Preece as an exhibition event — Preece is still officially winless in Cup Series competition — but it certainly gives Preece and the No. 60 team momentum going into the season-opening Daytona 500.

Ryan Preece wins wild Clash

Ty Gibbs led at the halfway mark, but sleet and rain soon forced teams to put on wet-weather tires.

Under wet conditions, caution after caution came out as drivers, in quintessential Bowman Gray fashion, kept running into each other and bringing out the yellow flag.

A little wet out there. pic.twitter.com/93cVdV6yde
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) February 5, 2026

But when the chips were down, Preece, a 35-year-old short track ace from Connecticut, proved his worth.

"I don't even know what to say," Preece told Fox Sports. "To be honest with you, it's been a f---ing long road. It's been years and years of grinding. Two years ago, I didn't think I was going to have a job. I thought I was going back to Connecticut. I'm just super emotional."

Byron, Ryan Blaney, Daniel Suarez and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top-five, with Chase Briscoe, Austin Dillon, Chris Buescher, Ross Chastain and Alex Bowman completing the top-10.

Other notable finishers include Joey Logano in 11th, LCQ winner Josh Berry in 12th, Carson Hocevar in 15th, polesitter Kyle Larson — who was the first driver to run out of gas in the latter stages of the race — in 16th and Shane van Gisbergen in 20th.

Samuel Stubbs

Hailing from the same neck of the woods as NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin, Samuel has been covering NASCAR for Yardbarker since February 2024. He has been a member of the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) since October of 2024. When he’s not writing about racing, Samuel covers Arkansas Razorback basketball for Yardbarker

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