Ryan Preece Overcomes Elements To Win Clash

The unofficial start to the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series racing season happened. Despite back to back winter storms and a foot of snow on the ground just two days ago, the Cookout Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium took place. To make this sound almost like Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas, “It came! Somehow it came! It came without cancellations or moves to Daytona! It came with just snowplows and tractors and fans!”

Yes, in spite of being postponed twice, and the onslaught of critical comments on social media, NASCAR stuck to their guns and pulled off a miracle akin to the one they pulled after a Saturday afternoon monsoon rendered North Wilkesboro Speedway and its surrounding area into a perilous, powerless, and dark mud bog to get the 2024 All Star Race in.

This past Sunday – when the race was originally scheduled to happen, Bowman Gray Stadium and its surrounding areas were buried in a foot of snow. This came after the stadium crews, volunteers, and NASCAR-owned equipment from Richmond, Darlington, Talladega, Martinsville, and even Pocono, joined forces to get the facility race-ready following the previous weekend’s major ice storm. After some controversial periods of watching and waiting to see just how severe round two would be, once again – in spite of the massive cloud of doubt and criticism hanging over it and a postponement to Wednesday, those same crews and resources got the facility perfectly ready for racing with one more crucial hurdle to clear – the weather.

Fortunately, Mother Nature at last cooperated with daytime highs above freezing and some sunshine across consecutive days, allowing the snow to melt and the roads to be cleared and dried to the point where beyond the shadow of a doubt – racing could happen on Wednesday with just two events affected. The two Whelen Modified series races scheduled to run ahead of the qualifying heat races were indefinitely postponed while the heats themselves were cancelled. Instead, the drivers would qualify on their speeds in Wednesday afternoon’s practice sessions. The twenty drivers with the fastest lap times in their final practice runs would automatically lock in a spot to the main event while those that missed the mark would get a shot at one of two transfer spots set aside for the top finishers in the Last Chance Qualifier.

In the end, defending series champion Kyle Larson locked up the pole position with a top time of 14.137 seconds. His Hendrick Teammate William Byron locked up the 2nd spot while the next five were all Toyotas – Ty Gibbs, Chase Briscoe, Christopher Bell, and Denny Hamlin from the Joe Gibbs Racing camp, and Bubba Wallace from 23XI racing.

Among the other notables – last year’s Clash winner Chase Elliott qualified 11th to be joined on the same row by Carson Hocevar. Kyle Busch would roll off 13th with Joey Logano choosing alongside him. Ryan Blaney locked up the 16th starting spot, “road course ringer” Shane Van Gisbergen in 17th, rookie phenom Connor Zilisch 19th, and Daniel Suarez locking up the final transfer spot from qualifying.

The LCQ – a 75 lap sprint where, like in the main event, caution laps would not count towards the total laps run, was quietly a good race. It started with AJ Allmendinger exploding into turn one at the green flag, easily cruising ahead of Josh Berry for the lead. But, after a NASCAR review, he was penalized for jumping the restart, sending him to the back of the field and all but ending any chance of “Dinger” making the field for the main. He would serve that penalty on lap 5 when the first caution of the evening came out for an incident in between turns three and four where a stackup coming off the back straightaway caused Riley Herbst to get spun around. The race went green the rest of the way with the only other incident until the last lap was Todd Gilliland – who was among the volunteers that worked hard in the snow removal effort, had a mechanical issue and had to retire early.

In the end, the story came down to the battle for second – the last guaranteed transfer spot to the Clash. Corey Lajoie, filling in for the injured Brad Keselowski, quietly used old-school short track racing “technique” – aka the old bump and run, to move through the field, and with 5 laps to go, he got into a thrilling side by side battle with Austin Cindric that carried to the end with plenty of contact between them. On the final lap, Allmendinger tried to take advantage of the fracas to jump from 4th to 2nd in the final two corners. He got into the back of Lajoie, which allowed Cindric to take the last automatic bid to the night’s action. Alex Bowman, by virtue of being the highest finisher in points last season not to qualify on time or the LCQ, was awarded the provisional as the 23rd and final car in the field.

As darkness descended and an overcast day turned to a chilly night, the main event got underway with Kyle Larson taking the lead with ease and expediency off turn 2 after the green flag dropped. He led up to lap 53, when the night’s first caution flew for an incident in which Joey Logano got forced into the grass entering turn three, causing a stackup as he re-entered the track. Bubba Wallace was forced up to the outside wall and bounced off, coming back down into traffic and across the nose of Ryan Blaney, spinning the 23 out.

It took 4 laps, but after the restart, once again Larson was able to clear the way for the lead until tire wear allowed Byron to catch up and take the top spot from him at lap 71. The yellow flew again at lap 77 when Austin Cindric was sent for a spin off turn four that left him in the grass. Following the restart, it became evident tire management was a factor for Byron as Chase Briscoe was able to run him down and take the lead by lap 85. As the laps wound down for the first half of the race, Ty Gibbs made for the third lead change of the night when he was able to get by Briscoe, taking the race to the midway break.

As the cars went to the garage for “halftime adjustments”, a huge wrench got thrown into the remainder of the night when Mother Nature made her presence known. A passing shower that brought a mix of rain, sleet, and snow completely soaked the race track as the frozen precipitation melted on contact with the ground, which prompted NASCAR to send the cars back to the pit area to have their wet weather tires put on.

After the drivers and teams confirmed they were confident they could resume and another brief stoppage to dry standing water off the track, the race resumed. The field was unable to complete even one full lap under the green flag before chaos struck yet again. On lap 101, Denny Hamlin’s left rear quarter panel was hooked by Connor Zilisch in between turns three and four, collecting Kyle Larson and Ryan Preece in a spin to bring the race to another slow down.

Over the final 99 circuits, one-lap sprints became a common theme while the track conditions remained wet, leading to a Clash record-high 17 cautions by the time the checkered flag flew (the previous having come back in the second edition of this event when it was held at the LA Memorial Coliseum in 2023). After three more lead changes, a stoppage in which NASCAR allowed the teams to come in for a fuel only stop to make sure nobody else ran out of gas the rest of the way, and another drastic change in track conditions as it began to dry out over the final 25 laps, an unlikely winner who was involved in an earlier crash emerged.

Ryan Preece, who took the lead from Shane Van Gisbergen at lap 156 –  exactly one trip around the track after sliding into the wall in turn 4 and having to battle back, took home the checkered flag, marking his first ever victory in the NASCAR Cup Series in a race that perfectly exemplified Bowman Gray Stadium’s nickname and reputation as “The Madhouse.”

“Starting 18th in this race was going to be a big hill to climb”, said Preece after the win. “Even with a background in racing quarter-mile tracks, I knew it was going to be extremely difficult because the track was going to get faster and faster. We had to do a lot, which as a racer is not what you want. You want to talk about getting the pole and winning the race. But we started 18th, got to ninth, had the break and made adjustments. Then, it started raining. It doesn’t matter what kind of race car driver you are, these cars are set up for dry conditions. To be able to overcome all that and win this race made for a lot of emotions”

The win was understandably a very emotional moment for Preece, who admitted that he has had moments of doubt about his career in the recent past.

“Obviously I am extremely happy to be holding this trophy at a race track I won on 10 or 12 years ago on my journey to the Cup Series”, Ryan stated with pride. “Two years ago, I was about to move back to Connecticut thinking my career was over but the stars aligned and I got this opportunity with RFK Racing. I asked myself whether or not this was going to come together or whether I was just going to be another story where it all falls apart last second. I am grateful I got this opportunity because I got this team. We go to war every week and now I am excited about 2026. Yes, this was a non-points race, but winning at this level is not easy. So I am proud.”

Winning this race was big not only for Preece, but the entire Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing organization, who is still reeling from the tragic loss of one of their former drivers when Greg Biffle and his family were killed in a plane crash back in mid December.

“We are an extremely proud organization”, said RFK President Chip Bowers. “This organization was built on the back of Jack Roush and his commitment to this sport and drivers and people within our organization. We have had a lot of success and it is time we got back to that. We had a meeting for the drivers and crew chiefs and myself and talked about being bold, aggressive, and committed. We are going to get back to the front and this was our first opportunity. We do it with heavy hearts with Greg and his family in our hearts and our minds. It has been a tough few months for us dealing with the tragedy. But it is a testament to the family atmosphere in our organization, not neglecting the commitment to ourselves and one another. It is a testament to everyone in the shop and we are excited because there is just one of many wins to come. We are committed to having a big 2026.”

Among the other notable finishes, William Byron came home 2nd, Blaney overcame several incidents to salvage a top 5 in third, Daniel Suarez came home in 4th, and Denny Hamlin came in P5. Chase Briscoe brought his car home in sixth, and Alex Bowman rounded out the top 10. From 11th-15th, Joey Logano turned up in 11th, Christopher Bell was 13th, and Carson Hocevar ended up 15th. Pole sitter Kyle Larson and teammate Chase Elliott were involved in several wrecks on top of both running out of gas, derailing their nights for a 16th and 17th place finish, respectively. Zilisch and Kyle Busch were P18 and 19 while Van Gisbergen placed 20th after being involved in a multi car crash just 2 laps after losing the lead. 23XI had a bad night with Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace bringing up the rear in 22nd and 23rd.

No doubt the opinions will be very mixed since Bowman Gray stadium always leaves people divided. Bullring short track racing, while part of the grassroots heritage that built the sport of stock car racing, is not everyone’s cup of tea. But one thing that cannot be denied is that the 2026 Cookout Clash at Bowman Gray will always be remembered for the fact it even happened at all. The 2026 racing season came to Bowman Gray. Somehow it came. Against all odds, NASCAR once again showed the world that they can do anything they set their mind to with the right use of resources, some blue collar ingenuity/hard work/tenacity, and a little cooperation from nature.

With all that said, the future of the Clash may be debated, but Bowman Gray and the people of Winston-Salem showed out – even on a weeknight with an iffy forecast, which goes to show that not everyone believes Daytona should be this event’s home. But with Bowman Gray back to slumber until the weekly modified season begins, the attention of the Stock Car racing world shifts to the week after the Big Game for NASCAR’s Super Bowl – the 68th running of the Daytona 500.

The green flag for the “Great American Race” drops at 2:30 PM on Sunday February 15th with TV broadcast on Fox.