Bowman Gray Stadium opened in 1938, built during the Great Depression as a public works project. But Auto racing arrived a year later on a dirt track around a football field. In 1947, Bill France Sr. and Alvin Hawkins paved it, and NASCAR held its first sanctioned event here in 1949, making it NASCAR’s first weekly track. The Cup Series raced here from 1958 to 1971, when a who’s who of NASCAR Hall of Famers, Richard Petty, Junior Johnson, and Curtis Turner, dominated the feature winners list.
Then it went quiet at the top level for over five decades. So when the Cook Out Clash returned to the Madhouse in 2025, the first Cup event here since 1971, it was a much-welcome change. Now, just some time into that reunion, the future of Bowman Gray on the NASCAR calendar is in genuine doubt.
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NASCAR considers moving to Daytona for preseason Clash
Speaking during FOX’s pre-race show at Watkins Glen today, FOX’s Chris Myers put the possibility plainly: “It’s not a done deal, but there’s a possibility that the Clash will return to Daytona and kick off the week of the Daytona 500. Maybe even a Monday night primetime event, which would come after the Super Bowl. I just think that’s a great idea if it happens.”
The logic behind the timing is precise. Daytona International Speedway confirmed in October 2025 that the 2027 Daytona 500 would be pushed back a week to February 21, specifically to avoid a conflict with the Super Bowl. That shift creates a natural gap, with a Monday night following the Super Bowl, and the Daytona 500 still a week away, that a primetime Clash could fill without competing against anything.
For context, the Super Bowl drew over 123 million viewers in 2024; a Clash slotted immediately after it in Daytona’s spotlight would be a broadcast opportunity unlike anything NASCAR has had in years. Myers, who has covered multiple Super Bowls for FOX and understands that crossover window better than most, wasn’t musing idly.
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Earlier, fans accused NASCAR of ignoring their pleas and continuing with racetracks that did not meet the needs of the fans. The Daytona International Speedway held the NASCAR Clash until the 2021 season, serving as the opening event to the Daytona Speedweeks. Under the leadership of Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR is trying to return to those roots now that the sport has entered a stable phase once again.
However, the Bowman Gray Stadium is equally important and interesting as a race track. Nicknamed the Madhouse, it was a part of NASCAR’s operations during its most popular era in the 1950s and 1970s. The steady decline in attendance eventually drove the track out of the sport, and it only returned after a hefty investment from NASCAR.
The speedway was renovated before it held its first race in 50 years in 2025. NASCAR added new SAFER barriers and catch fences to the racetrack. The city council also approved a $1 M fund in order to add a new scoreboard to the track if NASCAR continued hosting events at the racetrack. But NASCAR did not anticipate that a snowstorm would take over their track and end up ruining the Clash week, postponing it until the fans ended up getting annoyed.
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Clint Bowyer, who was also part of the FOX broadcast panel at Watkins Glen, simultaneously floated a solution for Bowman Gray: “I live in Winston-Salem. I like Bowman Gray Stadium. I like the Madhouse; you led me right into it. I think you start that race lead-in right into the Coke 600 there in Charlotte. Let’s bring that All-Star Race back to the Madhouse and run that thing.”
As of now, NASCAR has not confirmed if Bowman Gray Stadium will end up getting removed from the 2027 calendar. There are multiple indications that NASCAR is going to focus heavily on the Preseason Thunder in order to bring better racing to the superspeedways, starting with the Daytona International Speedway. However, the president has refused to comment further on changing the Clash’s venue.
Instead, O’Donnell was focused more on NASCAR bringing in better surprises for fans next year, following its ideology of experimenting with races similar to the NASCAR San Diego race, the Anduril 250, this year. However, during one of his interviews, his words did suggest that NASCAR was not overlooking the idea of moving the Clash.
Steve O’Donnell stays cryptic about Bowman Gray Stadium
With the Preseason Thunder, NASCAR is trying to give the teams more time to test their cars and prepare for the Daytona 500 race. It is all a part of NASCAR’s efforts to rework its identity, starting with the quality of racing at Superspeedways.
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During the Door Bumper Clear podcast, Steve O’Donnell also commented that the buildup to the Daytona 500 needed to be longer and that Preseason Thunder would be serving as a good addition for the same.
“Two things: hopefully, the ability to make some adjustments not just pit stops or length of races, but to the car. We’re looking at some aero things. We’ve got a whole working group with the Cup teams right now to look at what we could do.
“It’s kind of two-fold, in my opinion, and fans loved it. IMSA does it with the races, and they get a huge boost of promoting their season.”
IMSA’s Rolex 24 at Daytona functions as both a season opener and a multi-day event that builds the sport’s profile before its regular season begins. O’Donnell is clearly eyeing a similar model. And when asked about the NASCAR Clash, O’Donnell’s answer was clearly unbothered. His nonchalant nature suggests that the Clash might be removed from the Madhouse, and NASCAR has not rejected the possibility of the same.
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What do you think? Does the Bowman Gray Stadium deserve a spot on the NASCAR calendar even though it’s for a different event altogether?
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