There are still three races remaining in the regular season for the NASCAR Cup Series; but plans are already being made for the 2025 racing season.
For the past few years, the season has started with the Busch Light Clash in the Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, California. NASCAR has announced that for the 2025 season, will hold The Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium.
Like North Wilkesboro, Bowman Gray is a part of NASCAR’s history.
Scheduled for February 2, 2025, The Clash will run on the quarter mile track in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
At the Memorial Coliseum, NASCAR constructed a temporary race track on the playing surface of the football field itself; at Bowman-Gray, the track runs around the football field.
At Bowman-Gray, NASCAR executive vice president, chief venue, and racing innovation officer Ben Kennedy (the great-grandson of NASCAR founder Bill France Sr) spoke on the return to the historic track saying, “we’re going back to The Madhouse in Bowman Gray Stadium. Bringing our Cup Series back there for the first time since the 1970s, it’s going to be another historic event. I’d say in a lot of ways, this is going to be an opportunity to celebrate our roots, our history and celebrate our NASCAR regional series.”
NASCAR ran Cup Series races at Bowman-Gray from 1958 to 1971. NASCAR legends Lee Petty, Richard Petty, David Pearson, Junior Johnson, Bobby Allison, Glen Wood, and Rex White are among the drivers to win a race at Bowman-Gray.
The Clash was started in 1979 and is a non-points race fielded by drivers who won a pole in the previous season. Previous Clash winners may also participate in the race. For many years The Clash kicked off Speedweeks and the season at Daytona International Speedway.