NASCAR is rescheduling the Clash, its annual season-opening exhibition race, due to expected inclement weather in the Winston-Salem, N.C. area, the location of the Bowman Gray Stadium track serving as the host to kick off NASCAR’s 2026 season, setting up what could be the coldest race in NASCAR history.
The Clash will now just be a one-day show on Sunday, Feb. 1, as opposed to the originally scheduled two days that would’ve seen qualifying and four heat races take place Saturday night, with the last-chance qualifier and the 200-lap main event Sunday night. Now, qualifying, the heats, the LCQ and the main will all happen Sunday.
Sunday’s practice and heat races begin at 2 p.m. ET and will be televised by FS2. The LCQ is at 6 p.m., and the main event is at 8 p.m., with Fox broadcasting both races.
The change comes amid weather forecasts for the original race date calling for an ambient temperature that in degrees is expected to dip near single digits, along with the possibility of snow.
This past weekend, the Bowman Gray track was covered in snow after a winter storm rolled through parts of North Carolina. While NASCAR officials were able to quickly remove the snow and treat the racing surface, the league wanted to avoid the possibility of weather impeding any on-track action with another winter storm projected to impact the area on Saturday. According to the National Weather Service, 5-12 inches of snow is forecasted to fall Saturday in Winston-Salem.
Bowman Gray is hosting the Clash for a second consecutive year after the 2025 race represented the first NASCAR national series event at the historic short track following a 54-year absence. Previously, the event was held at Daytona International Speedway from its inception in 1979 until 2022 when the race was shifted to a temporary short track NASCAR constructed inside the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
Last year’s race at Bowman Gray unfolded before a packed house featuring energized fans happy to see NASCAR’s premier Cup Series compete there again — something many thought would never happen. Its success made a second go-round essentially inevitable.
Unfortunately, this marks the second time in three years Mother Nature has significantly negatively impacted the Clash. The 2024 edition hastily moved up a day due to severe weather bearing down on the Los Angeles area that included the potential for “life-threatening and damaging flooding.”
Much like they did in 2024, NASCAR officials have been continually monitoring the upcoming forecast for Winston-Salem. Multiple fallback options were examined, but ultimately keeping the Clash at Bowman Gray — and as close to its originally scheduled date as possible — made the most sense.
Next weekend, the majority of the country will be focused on the Super Bowl, then after that the Cup Series doesn’t have another weekend off until Easter weekend — a date officials wanted to avoid conflicting with. And with the Clash serving as a de facto commercial for the Feb. 15 Daytona 500, NASCAR’s biggest race, they (and their broadcast partners at Fox) preferred to align the preseason event before Daytona.