The Clash is considered by many to be the unofficial start of a NASCAR Cup Series season. For the past three years, the exhibition race was held at the LA Memorial Coliseum. The event has a new home now in the iconic Bowman Gray Stadium in North Carolina. There are several reasons why this venue is iconic for stock car racing. It’s a huge part of the sport’s history since it held the first NASCAR-sanctioned pavement race in 1948. Then from 1958 to 1971, it hosted 29 Grand National Series races.
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The track resonates with a lot of the current Cup Series drivers since a lot of them took part in the ARCA East Series races held here from 2011 to 2017. 2012 was a big year with a lot of the current Cup superstars. The field at the time included Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Tyler Reddick, Bubba Wallace, Kyle Busch, and many others. Larson had one of the best experiences of the event as he qualified for pole position and finished the race in P5. He still looks fondly back on the raucous atmosphere of the day and wants the same for the Clash next year.
“I sat in the stands that night we ran the K&N race and they had Modifieds running after us and there’s no other experience like Bowman Gray as a race fan. I hope that same style of a crowd shows up for a Cup race there; flipping all of us off, leaning over the wall, and screaming at us. It’s amazing. It’s such a cool atmosphere. I’m excited for it,” he said in a media interaction.
The 2021 Cup Series champion will come back to the venue as one of the best motorsports athletes in the world today. He will certainly be hoping to take the checkered flag this time around and treat the fans in attendance to a masterclass in stock car racing.
Chase Elliott is not a fan of Bowman Gray Stadium
Yung Money looks back at that day in 2012 fondly but not everyone is of that opinion. His current teammate Chase Elliott has no idea what it was like on that day since he had such a bad race. It was not a good day for the Hendrick Motorsports star and he would not like to repeat that in the Clash next year.
Nonetheless, he is hoping that there will be a much hyped-up atmosphere when the Cup Series finally makes its return to the Bowman Gray Stadium. But he’s still not a fan of the racing there.
“I remember going but I don’t remember the atmosphere,” he explained to Sportsnaut. “Those places are really small and really tight. We are in really heavy cars. It’s really hard to do. I will say the durability of these cars, and the front bumper is probably, if it was going to be good for anything, was going to be good for that from an entertainment standpoint.”
Some drivers won’t enjoy racing there and that is perfectly fine. But the fans will hopefully get to witness a thrilling race that would serve as a brilliant pre-cursor to the NASCAR Cup Series season.
