This year, the Clash at Bowman Gray might just be cursed. NASCAR is doing all it can to put on the event this week. First, NASCAR consolidated the weekend into one day for Sunday. Clearly, that wasn’t going to work, so it was pushed to Monday and then later, to Wednesday.
These delays and changes are being made to accommodate fans. NASCAR wants people in the seats when they go racing at the Madhouse, so they are doing what they can to make that happen.
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Still, the forecast for Wednesday looks cold and rainy. That might be enough to scare away a big crowd, and could even force NASCAR to make more changes to the program. Mainly, NASCAR will be prepared to race in the wet if needed with wet-weather tires on hand.
NASCAR Prepares for Rainy Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray
While sometimes referred to as rain tires, these are not meant to be raced in the rain, exactly. They are meant to race in damp conditions in order to get on the track and race earlier than it would take to dry a track off by traditional means.
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The tires allow for racing in a drizzle or light rain, but even the treaded tires have limits. We have seen that these wet-weather tires often put on a better short track race than the regular slicks.
Having the wet weather tires on hand is a good idea. It would just be a major let down if, after all of the delays and schedule changes, to see this come down to a rainy night race. Even a damp race would be detrimental to the fan turnout, and that’s why the race was pushed back to Wednesday to begin with – fans.
Let’s hope NASCAR is simply using up its bad karma when it comes to weather now, and not when we are getting ready for the Daytona 500. After the snow and possibly more rain this week in Winston-Salem, getting a nice warm, dry weekend in Daytona with no delays sounds like a dream.
This story was originally published by Athlon Sports on Feb 2, 2026, where it first appeared in the Racing section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
