By now, we all know what Bowman Gray Stadium is. It’s not a racetrack. It’s a bullring wrapped in concrete, soaked in history, and just barely controlled chaos. It’s also where NASCAR is going back to kick off the 2026 season — which makes perfect sense, because the 2025 edition of the Cook Out Clash was less of an exhibition and more of a full-contact family reunion.
NASCAR confirmed Wednesday that it will return to The Madhouse on January 31 and February 1, 2026, for what is rapidly becoming the most unpredictable, gloriously unhinged event on the calendar. After all, where else can you pack 20+ Cup drivers into a space roughly the size of a high school running track and tell them, “Good luck — now try not to hit anything”?
(Spoiler: They will hit everything. And it’ll be amazing.)
“We wrote a new chapter in the storied history of motorsports at Bowman Gray,” said NASCAR Regional boss Joey Dennewitz, possibly while someone crashed into a retaining wall behind him.
The 2025 Clash sold out. It was loud. It was tight. It was exactly the kind of spectacle that reminds you why short-track racing still matters. Chase Elliott won, several others nearly exploded, and the crowd treated every bump-and-run like it was Game 7 of the World Series.
And NASCAR? NASCAR finally felt like it was right where it belonged.
Bowman Gray isn’t a gimmick. It’s where Richard Petty won his 100th race. It’s where Junior Johnson and David Pearson once traded paint like it was currency. It’s not just old school — it’s pre-school by today’s standards, and that’s exactly what makes it perfect.
“The 2025 race was an immensely successful event,” said Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines, likely still trying to get tire smoke out of City Hall carpets.
Cook Out is back as the title sponsor, of course. They’re local, they’re loyal, and they make burgers the size of carburetors. Their name’s on the sign, but the real star here is the stadium — the kind of place where you don’t just race, you survive.
With NASCAR’s recent run of Clash experimentation — from the L.A. Coliseum to this — Bowman Gray may be setting the blueprint. Short track. Big crowd. No fluff. All fight.
Could the Clash rotate to other grassroots tracks? Maybe. But for now, Bowman Gray has earned another round. And when the green flag drops in 2026, rest assured: it won’t be quiet, it won’t be clean, and it absolutely won’t be boring.
Greg was a writer for DriveTribe supporting Amazon's The Grand Tour and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, and a Masters degree in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek and a regular contributor to Forbes.
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