{"id":99783,"date":"2025-02-07T07:32:48","date_gmt":"2025-02-07T15:32:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/?p=99783"},"modified":"2025-02-07T09:39:51","modified_gmt":"2025-02-07T17:39:51","slug":"pre-season-preview-nascar-returns-to-bowman-gray","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/pre-season-preview-nascar-returns-to-bowman-gray\/","title":{"rendered":"Pre-Season Preview: NASCAR Returns to Bowman Gray"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A big race at a small track ahead of the start of the Daytona 500 could be a preview of a promising season from NASCAR’s most popular driver.<\/b><\/h2>\n

When NASCAR changed the format of the pre-season Clash for the 2022 season, many were excited about the sport returning to its short track roots. However, the venue itself \u2013 the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum \u2013 was anything but traditional. Once the host to the Summer Olympics and the\u00a0 USC Trojans football team, NASCAR spent a ton of money to turn the field into an asphalt bullring each year from 2022 to 2024.<\/span><\/p>\n

This year, the Clash moved once again, but not back to Daytona. Instead, they retained that same traditional short track formula, but at a true traditional short track: Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Bowman Gray Stadium has hosted weekly racing events for decades, and even hosted NASCAR Cup Series races from 1958 through 1971. Incidentally, its infield is also host to a college football team, the Winston-Salem State University Rams.<\/span><\/p>\n