NASCAR’s preseason exhibition race has been postponed. Again.
The sanctioning body announced Sunday the Clash, which was originally scheduled for Sunday night at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, would be pushed to Wednesday. The Clash had previously been postponed to Monday, thanks to the massive snowstorm that hit North Carolina and the surrounding areas.
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Assuming roads can be cleared in time for teams and spectators to get to the event, it will be at 6 p.m. ET and televised on Fox. Practice and qualifying for the event will be held in the afternoon and the last chance qualifier for the race will start at 4:30 p.m. ET. The event’s heat races had already been canceled as part of the postponement to Monday.
The 2026 season is the second for the Clash at the historic North Carolina short track. The exhibition race has been held at the start of the NASCAR season since 1979, but moved from Daytona to a temporary short track at the Los Angeles Coliseum in 2022. The race was held on the West Coast for three seasons before it was moved to Bowman Gray in 2025.
The Cup Series season officially begins on Feb. 15 with the Daytona 500. Since moving to Los Angeles, the Clash has been held in prime time on the weekend ahead of the Super Bowl in an attempt to take advantage of the NFL’s off weekend.
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Chase Elliott won the inaugural Bowman Gray race ahead of Ryan Blaney. Elliott led 171 of 200 laps. Though there are 36 chartered teams in the NASCAR Cup Series, the field is limited to 23 cars because of the size of the 0.25-mile track.
Some areas of North Carolina received over a foot of snow as state officials advised residents all across North Carolina to stay off the roads. Temperatures are supposed to get over freezing in Winston-Salem on Monday with a forecast high of 42 on Wednesday.
