NASCAR, Sonoma and In-Season Challenge
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The historic quarter-mile oval in Winston-Salem, North Carolina will host the season-opening exhibition race on Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026, marking the second consecutive year the NASCAR Cup Series will compete in a non-points event at the venerable multi-purpose venue. The race will be broadcast by FOX Sports.
NASCAR has enjoyed some competitive success in running the race on quarter-mile bullrings over the past four years in markets both new and old. Bowman Gray Stadium, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, is one of the longest tenured short tracks under the purview of the Sanctioning Body and was also the site of its first ever pavement race in 1958.
Alex Bowman hates stale racing at the same tracks over and over. He wants to see more new tracks added to the schedule.
NASCAR season will begin in the same place the 2025 season did, at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
NASCAR fans watch the field pass between Turns 1 and 2 during the Cook Out Clash race at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, NC on Sunday, February 2, 2025. Driver Chase Elliott won the race. JEFF SINER [email protected]
While countless NASCAR fans have likely already lost interest in the inaugural In-Season Challenge because their favorite driver has already been eliminated, fans of dark horses couldn’t have made a better pick than Ty Dillon.
"We wrote a new chapter in the storied history of motorsports at Bowman Gray Stadium with the Cook Out Clash this year," said NASCAR Regional managing director Joey Dennewitz. "As
Clash is heading back to one of NASCAR's historic venues; series official remains noncommittal about having a points race there.
NASCAR's exhibition Clash race to kick off the season will return to the Winston-Salem short track in 2026, the league announced Wednesday.
Shane van Gisbergen will be trying for his third straight road-course victory in the NASCAR Cup Series. He's heavily favored at Sonoma.
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On3 on MSNMike Forde addresses bracket challenge impacting NASCAR officiating in reference to Alex Bowman, Bubba Wallace battleMike Forde, NASCAR managing director of racing communications, said on Wednesday’s “Hauler Talk” podcast that they are not officiating races differently due to the In-Season Challenge. Forde brought up the intense battle between Bubba Wallace and Alex Bowman in the closing laps of this past Sunday’s Chicago Street Race,