SHANE van Gisbergen will take a hot-looking Trackhouse Racing livery into this weekend’s non-points-paying NASCAR Cup Series Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium.
Interestingly, included in the minor sponsors to be found on the #97 for van Gisbergen and the #88 Chevrolet for new teammate Connor Zilisch is WeatherTech, with speculation mounting over the status of the partnership after the brand dropped off Trackhouse website during the offseason.
While the car may be hot, the weather forecast for North Carolina is looking decidedly not.
Heavy snowfall in recent days has had the track staff mopping up the bullring, with further significant falls forecast over the weekend.
NASCAR has indicated it is willing to move the event back to next week if there are delays to the program.
Crews at Bowman Gray are hard at work clearing the ice from the grandstands, and all of the other jobs to have BGS ready, for The COOKOUT CLASH this weekend (or whenever weather dictates) pic.twitter.com/0kUeYcOefZ
— Chris Weaver (@chris8video) January 28, 2026
As it currently stands, practice, qualifying, and four heat races are scheduled for Sunday morning Australian time, ahead of the 75-lap last chance qualifying race on Monday morning, with the event to be rounded out by the 200-lap Clash.
All told, 23 cars are slated to start the main event.
For van Gisbergen, who utilised a similar Trackhouse scheme in last year’s Clash, the event is an opportunity for him to improve on a staunch opening run at “The Madhouse” last year, when he kicked off his rookie Cup season with a ninth-place finish after qualifying tenth.
Following an off weekend, the NASCAR season proper is scheduled to get underway with the Daytona 500 on February 15th.
