Bob Pockrass
Fox Nascar Insider
The NASCAR season begins with a little tradition while the pre-season shock on Fox becomes green this weekend.
The exhibition race, however, will be done for the first time in a new place. A place imbued with the NASCAR tradition.
The Bowman Gray Stadium, a quarter-Mile race track that surrounds a football field, welcomed Cup races from 1958 to 1971. Known under the name of “The Madhouse” of a reality show in 2010 Who followed the Rambuncctious series Modified Racing on the track, Bowman Gray is also the site of football matches for the Winston-Salem State University (NC).
The track belongs to the city of Winston-Salem, and last March, Nascar obtained the promotional rights of the race for the establishment. Eight pilots entered in the confrontation have experience in Bowman Gray stock cars of the NASCAR EAST series (think of a single-a-basic baseball) which were held there from 2011 to 2015.
Here are the answers to five questions about the shock, with the main event which takes place Sunday at 8 p.m. HE Sunday on Fox.
Why are they running to Bowman Gray?
Consider it as the Field of Dreams game from Nascar, a tribute to the roots of sport. Nascar proved that he could have a race on a quarter of a quarter of a quarter with the last three events of the confrontation on a temporary track built inside the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
While The Clash in Los Angeles was designed to generate new fans and has been filled with musical acts, this race has an old -fashioned NASCAR atmosphere.
The race will certainly affect the hearts of these aspires in the past years. The owner of the team, Richard Childress, sold peanuts and popcorn on the track as a child.
“There is something about Bowman Gray who brings out the worst of people – or the best,” said Wood Brothers Racing’s co -owner, Eddie Wood, who saw his father, Glen Wood, win races on the track in the 1960s. “You can say it anyway, you want, but I think everyone is really amplified to do well there.”
What improvements have been made to the installation?
NASCAR had to improve the capture fence and put safer barriers (reduction in steel and FOAM energy). But instead of making the barriers pleasant and smooth in the Tour, Nascar tried to keep the character of the rail of carelessly in good shape which was once.
The walls run 3 and 4 pinching a little in the track, making it narrow as it was previously with turn 3 and more than one funnel.
They have also added a new permanent LED lighting and will have to shed temporary lighting for the event.
There will be a closed window crowds between 18,000 and 20,000 fans.
What is the format?
There are 39 entries, and the track is too small to have 39 cups of cars on it at a time. The 39 cars will be divided into three groups and each group will have two eight -minute training sessions each on Saturday evening. Then, each group will be divided into two groups, and the pilots will have a four -minute final training session where their best turn will define the alignments for heat races.
There will be four rounds – three with 10 cars, one with nine cars – 25 laps each Saturday evening. The fastest qualifying car will be on the post for the first heat, the second fastest of the post for the second heat and so on.
Only the green flag towers count and there will be no overtime.
The first five of each heat take place towards the main Sunday evening event. The 19 remaining cars will participate in a race on Sunday in a 75-round race (only the green flag towers count, no overtime), the two cars of the top-two passing to the main event. Of the remaining 17 cars, the competitor who had the highest driver points of the 2024 season will obtain the 23rd and last place of the main event.
The winner of the first heat will be on the post for the main event, the winner of the second heat in the front row, the winners of the third and fourth rounds will include line 2 and so on. The main event will be 200 laps. Only the green flag towers count. There will be a break at halftime after 100 laps.
Who ran there?
The eight pilots entered who have experience in stock cars on the track: Alex Bowman, William Byron, Cole Custer, Chase Elliott, Justin Haley, Kyle Larson, Daniel Suarez and Bubba Wallace,
“It’s been so long since I’m here. These races (is) were years ago. I don’t really think it will help,” said Elliott. “In recent years, having been at the Colosseum, I know that it will be different for sure, but I think there will be similarities on a simple trace of this size and the speed of things.”
Four pilots have run the changes on the track: Ryan Preece and Cody Ware are full -time cutting drivers who have some departures here, while two of the most notable and famous modified champions of Bowman Gray, Tim Brown and Burt Myers, have obtained journeys for the confrontation.
“The stadium race is difficult,” said Brown, who is a mechanic of the Rick Ware race shop and worked on the car he would run. “It will be more difficult than even the race for the Colosseum in Los Angeles, just because of the difference in asphalt and time, the temperature difference.
“But it’s going to be the same for everyone. I think the background will certainly be dominant and you just have to make your car become very well in the center and have a lot of driving forward and everything will be fine.”
Will he rain … or the snow?
Temperatures will be in the 1940s on Saturday evening and could dive into the High-30s on Sunday evening, according to Fox Weather.
But the good news? There is less than 10% of rain.
Bob Pockrass covers Nascar for Fox Sports. He has spent decades to cover motorsport, including more than 30 Daytona 500, with stays in ESPN, Sporting News, Nascar Scene Magazine and Le (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow it on Twitter @bobpockrash.
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