How 'weird' Clash at Bowman Gray differs from a normal NASCAR weekend

NASCAR Cup Series teams will converge on Winston-Salem, North Carolina, for a season-opening exhibition race at Bowman Gray Stadium. 

The Clash serves as an opportunity for teams to get back in the saddle and race for a trophy and a check before the season officially kicks off at Daytona two weeks later. 

But the overall race weekend at the 0.25-mile bullring will be pretty atypical as far as a standard NASCAR weekend goes. On Wednesday, Cup Series crew chief Blake Harris, who calls the shots for driver Alex Bowman and the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports team, talked with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio about how the weekend differs from others.

"The Clash is a little bit [of] a weird event for us," Harris said. "We're going to tech [inspection] somewhere off-site. It's a little bit different [of] a routine than what we usually see. 

"That whole weekend, we're sharing haulers with a teammate. There's really no normal flow from what I remember it felt like last year. You ride up in the van in the morning with the guys and ride back; we don't typically get to do that."

Clash format stays the same

The Clash may not feel like a normal race weekend, but the format for the exhibition event will stay the same as it was in 2025. 

There will be four 25-lap heat races on Jan. 31, with the starting lineups for those being determined by each driver's fastest lap in final practice earlier that evening. The top-five drivers in each of the four heat races will earn a spot in the Feb. 1 200-lap main event, from which 23 drivers will qualify. 

The remaining three spots will be taken up by the top-two finishers in the Feb. 1 last-chance qualifier race, with the final spot being given to the driver highest in the 2025 driver standings. That locks defending Cup Series champion Kyle Larson into the Clash itself regardless of his performance in his heat race or the LCQ. 

Quotes provided by SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.