WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Crew chief Paul Wolfe said he spent some of his down time from the offseason snowmobiling in northern Maine. The weather outlook for the opening weekend of the NASCAR season has some of the same New England-style flavor, but the hope is that Wolfe’s recreational form of transportation won’t be needed for it.
The Cook Out Clash exhibition remains on a flexible racing schedule for its second running at Bowman Gray Stadium, but with a mindful eye on a snowy weekend forecast for the North Carolina piedmont. Saturday’s on-track activity at the historic track was scrubbed by late Thursday afternoon, and the chances of Sunday’s main event going off as scheduled at 8 p.m. ET are still on, but with a wait-and-see scenario.
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The Cup Series garage had some of that flexible spirit Thursday, moving indoors for an off-site pre-race inspection at the Winston-Salem Fairgrounds events center. Last year, NASCAR competition officials held opening-day scrutineering for the Clash in the garage at Charlotte Motor Speedway, inspecting the field before sealing the cars and haulers for transportation to the quarter-mile oval’s paddock area. This year’s version of inspection had the same sort of bustle as crews pushed cars from station to station, keeping cozy inside while their team haulers staged on a freshly scraped lot close by.
“Overall, this part of it works well for us,” said Wolfe, crew chief for Team Penske’s No. 22 Ford and three-time Cup champion Joey Logano. “I mean, obviously, we kind of did a similar format in Charlotte last year, where we inspect and then they seal the cars up. Obviously, a little unique situation with the weather this weekend, but I think you’ve got to expect that with the timing of this race, and that’s OK, we can get through it. It’s just a lot of things out of our control. So far, everything, I think, has gone pretty smooth here from the inspection process and kind of everyone getting back into the flow again. So we’ll be ready to race, and then we’ll just kind of be on wait to see what NASCAR makes the decision, once we see what the weather is going to do Saturday.”
Cup Series practice and qualifying were moved to Sunday afternoon, with competition officials opting to be on the safer side of caution as wintry weather approaches. The Madhouse Classic races for Bowman Gray regulars in the Modified and Sportsman divisions were also postponed from their Saturday schedule to a to-be-announced later date.
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Fans will still have a chance to get a glimpse at the cars that will compete in the preseason Cup Series race, plus driver autograph sessions and more in Friday’s Clash Preview in the fairgrounds’ annex building. That’s where the cars will stay, says Cup Series director Brad Moran, until there’s a definite go time established for race day.
“We have to deal with the weather as it comes,” Moran said. “It certainly looks like we might get delayed some, but we’ve got provisions in place. Our teams are all geared up, they’re waiting for the instructions from our office to kind of say where we’re going, but we never jump the gun on that. As we have all learned, forecasts can be wrong occasionally … so we’re prepared for whatever hits us. Just like to thank the city of Winston-Salem for extending this building to us, because the cars are not going to leave here until we’re ready to go racing. So we will be here, and we will be ready.”
Outside, the Winston-Salem area was still reeling from the effects of the previous weekend’s wintry blast, four days later. An icy mix still coated many side roads, with frigid temperatures slowing the melting process. Inside the racing-memorabilia-covered walls of JS Pulliam’s, a historic favorite hot dog joint for NASCAR’s first family, staff and customers during the early lunch rush kept the conversation and speculation focused on the stadium’s race-day readiness.
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Track crews cleared ice from Bowman Gray’s racing surface and portions of the grandstands earlier in the week. Those winter-weather remnants were still lingering Thursday, awaiting this weekend’s potential Round 2, but preparations for race day were already in early-season swing.
“The teams appreciate the opportunity to have the cars inspected in here, and it’s business as usual,” Moran said. “It’s the first race of the season. The equipment’s working good, cars are rolling around, and as you can see, it’s quite a busy little spot in here. It’s worked out well, so we appreciate all the support from the city and Bowman Gray, and we’re looking forward to getting out on the race track and getting racing in this weekend.”
