What a mess this has been.
The NASCAR Cup Series finally got underway with the preseason Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray today after having to reschedule the race from Sunday due to a massive snowstorm that hit North Carolina over the weekend.
The exhibition race serves as the unofficial kickoff to the NASCAR season ahead of the Daytona 500 in two weeks. Originally the Clash was held at Daytona International Speedway, but in 2021 the race moved to the road course at Daytona International Speedway, before 2022 when it moved away from Daytona and to a custom-built track inside the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
Moving back to Bowman Gray in 2025 represented a significant return to their roots for NASCAR, which held annual races at the quarter mile track from 1958 through 1971.
But obviously the weather in North Carolina is slightly more unpredictable than Daytona or Los Angeles last year, and while NASCAR got lucky last, this year has been a struggle to get the race completed before the teams head to Florida.
The weather cooperated for qualifying at the Last Chance Qualifier race this afternoon, but this evening during the main event has been a different story.
One thing that’s been a problem is the significant amount of snow that was removed from the grandstands and the racetrack. Obviously that snow had to go somewhere, and the speedway piled it up just outside of the wall – which has caused the melting snow to seep onto the track and brought out the first caution during the main event.
Then as the teams were in the pits for the halftime break, the skies opened up once again. NASCAR had the teams put on wet weather tires, but the downpour also forced crews to have to blow the standing water off the track before the cars could safely go racing again.
After the second half went green, the wet track caused chaos and resulted in several cautions that further slowed down the 200-lap race.
As a result, the race ran well beyond the scheduled television window on FOX – and forced the network to move the final quarter of the Clash from their main network to their cable channel, FS2, at 9:00 PM so the main network could air The Masked Singer.
Priorities, I guess.
Well as you can imagine, NASCAR fans weren’t happy about the midrace network change:
Losing our coverage to The Masked Singer is a slap in the face! Especially waiting 3 days to watch this!
— Gary 🇺🇸 (@americandadof4) February 5, 2026
Why not just start The Masked Singer when the race ends? This is a live sporting event… I enjoy The Masked Singer but come on… @NASCARONFOX @FOXTV
— Going in Circles (@Here4Racing) February 5, 2026
Obviously live sporting events are tricky for networks, especially when weather causes unexpected delays and schedule changes. And I’m sure the fact that it’s not a points event played a part in the decision to bump the end of the race to cable.
But man, as much as I hate to say it, it may be time to move the Clash back to Daytona if weather is going to be a problem at Bowman Gray.
