Chris Vinel, Daytona Beach News-JournalThu, February 5, 2026 at 3:04 AM UTC·2 min readThe 2026 NASCAR Clash is in the books. But it took a while to get there.
The checkered flag arrived more than three hours after the start of the 200-lap race Wednesday, Feb. 4. Along the way, the Cup Series preseason event saw 17 caution flags — many due to crashes on the quarter-mile Bowman Gray Stadium track and one due to inclement weather that has plagued Winston-Salem, North Carolina, for the last week.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementOf course, the 17 cautions are a Clash record.
Following more than two hours' worth of pauses, Ryan Preece of RFK Racing prevailed. He capitalized on the final of the race's 11 lead changes.
During and after the Clash, some online called for its return to Daytona International Speedway, its original host from 1979 until 2021. In 2022, the exhibition migrated west to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and spent three years there. It debuted at Bowman Gray in 2025.
What do you think?
Love Bowman Gray? Prefer it at Daytona? Want to try somewhere new?
The following poll will remain open until Monday.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: NASCAR Clash: Should race move from Bowman Gray to Daytona?
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