The 2025 Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium was a non-championship exhibition

NASCAR Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), the most prestigious stock car racing series in the United States. The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, ...

race that was held on February 2, 2025, at Bowman Gray Stadium in

Winston-Salem, North Carolina Winston-Salem is a city in Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the List of municipalities in North Carolina, fifth-most populous ...

. Contested over 200 laps, it was the first exhibition race of the

2025 NASCAR Cup Series The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series is the 77th season for NASCAR professional stock car racing in the United States and the 54th season for the modern-era NASCAR Cup Series, Cup Series. The season started with the 2025 Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Sta ...

season.

Report

Background

Bowman Gray Stadium is a

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

sanctioned asphalt flat oval short track and longstanding

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

stadium located in

. It is one of stock car racing's most legendary venues, and is referred to as "NASCAR's longest-running weekly race track". Bowman Gray Stadium is part of the Winston-Salem Sports and Entertainment Complex and is home of the Winston-Salem State University Rams football team. It was also the home of the

Wake Forest University Wake Forest University (WFU) is a private research university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1834, the university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina. The R ...

football team from 1956 until Groves Stadium (later BB&T Field) opened in 1968. On August 17, 2024, NASCAR announced that the Clash would be moved to Bowman Gray Stadium, becoming the first NASCAR-sanctioned race at the track since

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

. Scrutineering took place at Charlotte Motor Speedway on January 30. Post-race inspection would take place in both Winston-Salem and also at NASCAR facilities in Charlotte.

Entry list

* (R) denotes rookie driver. * (i) denotes driver who is ineligible for series driver points.

Practice

Ty Gibbs was the fastest in the practice session with a time of 14.019 with an average speed of .

Practice results

Qualifying

Chase Elliott scored the pole for the first heat race with a time of 14.115 and a speed of .

Qualifying results

Qualifying heat races

Chase Elliott scored the pole for the race after winning the first qualifying heat race.

Race 1

Race 2

Race 3

Race 4

"Last Chance" qualifying race

Starting lineup

Race

Race results

Media

Television

Fox covered the race on the television side. Mike Joy, Clint Bowyer, and three-time Clash winner Kevin Harvick handled the call in the booth for the race. Jamie Little and Regan Smith handled the pit road duties, and Larry McReynolds provided insight on-site during the race.

Radio

MRN covered the radio call for the race, which was also simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. Alex Hayden and Mike Bagley called the action from the broadcast booth when the field raced down the front straightaway. Lead Turn Announcer Dave Moody called the action for MRN when the field raced down the backstretch. Lead Pit Reporter for MRN Steve Post, Chris Wilner, Brienne Pedigo, and Jacklyn Drake covered the action for MRN on pit lane.

References

{{2025 NASCAR Cup Clash at Bowman Gray Clash at Bowman Gray Clash at Bowman Gray NASCAR races at Bowman Gray Stadium