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2026 Cook Out Clash Preview

2026 Cook Out Clash Preview

Date/Time: Sunday February 1st, 2026. 8:00PM (EST)
Where: Bowman Gray Stadium
TV: FOX

It does not seem that long ago that the Cup Series concluded the 2025 season at Phoenix Raceway with headlines surrounding Kyle Larson winning his 2nd Cup Series title and Denny Hamlin’s failed bid at another championship. However on Sunday, NASCAR’s offseason will conclude with the annual Cook Out Clash as the Cup Series returns to Bowman Gray Stadium for another battle at the Madhouse in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. While the Clash is considered an exhibition race, it will give us our first opportunity to witness changes that the 2026 season will bring and this race will ramp up the excitement towards the 68th running of the Daytona 500 which will take place in just a couple of weeks.

As we prepare for racing to pick back up over the next several weeks, I have a keen interest to get back to our winning ways after a disappointing 2025 campaign. While we will discuss some changes to our betting strategy and cards at a later time, I would like to take the opportunity to review Sunday’s Cook Out Clash and highlight a few things that are worth mentioning going into the 2026 season. With that being said, this year’s Clash will feature a slightly different format. A winter storm is moving through the east coast on Saturday which cancelled qualifying and the heat races that were originally scheduled to take place on Saturday. As a result, all on-track activity will take place on Sunday based on the schedule below:

2026 Cook Out Clash Schedule and Format

Practice & Qualifying (2:00PM EST)
The event kicks off with two 8-minute practice rounds, leading straight into group qualifying. Drivers have a 4-minute window to clock their fastest lap and there is no limit on the number of qualifying attempts within the time window. The top 20 in qualifying will secure their spot in the main event.

Last Chance Qualifier (6:00PM EST)
For those who miss the top 20 in qualifying speed, there will be a Last Chance Qualifier race (75 laps) for the remaining 18 entries (38 cars total). The top two drivers from the Last Chance Qualifier will be awarded a ticket to the Cook Out Clash, while the 23rd and final grid position is reserved for the highest-ranked driver from the 2025 standings that did not make it into the event.

Cook Out Clash (8:00PM EST)
The main event for the Cook Out Clash will be very similar to last year’s race which featured 200 scheduled green flag laps. There will be one scheduled caution/intermission at lap 100 for teams and drivers to adjust their cars. Caution laps will not count and the race must finish under the green flag to be considered official!

2025 Clash Notes

The Cup Series hosted the first Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium last year. In that race, Chase Elliott emerged victorious following a dominating performance in which he led 171 of 200 laps en route to victory. Denny Hamlin (28) and Tyler Reddick (1) were the only other drivers to lead laps in last year’s event. There were 7 total cautions in last year’s race and only 11 drivers finished on the lead lap following the scheduled distance. Ryan Blaney earned the automatic transfer spot after failing to qualify for the event and drove through the field for an impressive runner-up finish. Meanwhile, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, and Bubba Wallace rounded out the top 5 finishing positions. Overall Elliott and Hamlin were the two strongest cars throughout all sessions (practice, heat races, main event).

2026 – What to Watch

NASCAR’s silly season was slightly less “silly” this offseason with minimal driver changes. However, there will be a few changes for the 2026 season and some that are specific to Sunday’s Clash that I wanted to mention that will be worth following in the days ahead.

  • Connor Zilisch (#88) – Rookie phenom Connor Zilisch will step into Cup Series action this season in the #88 for Trackhouse Racing. Zilisch compiled the most impressive rookie campaign in Xfinity Series history, last year, that resulted in 10 victories. While rookies are slow to adapt at the Cup Series level, Zilisch is arguably one of the best young talents since Kyle Busch or perhaps Jeff Gordon.
  • Daniel Suarez (#7) – Zilisch replaced veteran Cup Series driver Daniel Suarez who was let go at the end of the 2025 season. Suarez landed at Spire Motorsports and will pilot the #7 car for the 2026 campaign.
  • Cole Custer (#41) – While Cole Custer is not new to the #41 team at Haas Factory Team. The organization did move from Ford to Chevy over the offseason and will have an alliance with Hendrick Motorsports.
  • Corey LaJoie (#6) – Corey LaJoie will fill-in for Brad Keselowski on Sunday as a replacement driver. Keselowski is recovering from a broken leg from a skiing incident that occurred in December.
  • Horsepower – Beyond the driver changes, possibly the biggest storyline heading into the 2026 campaign surrounds the increase in horsepower. At all road courses and tracks that are less than 1.5 miles in length, NASCAR’s rules package allows 750 horsepower which is a relatively significant increase from the 670 horsepower package in 2025.