WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Ryan Preece won his first career NASCAR Cup Series race — albeit an exhibition —  by taking Wednesday night’s Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium.

In front of a hearty crowd and in what officials said was the second-coldest Cup race in NASCAR history (with a green-flag temperature of 36 degrees Fahrenheit), Preece made his way to the front of the pack in a chaotic scramble and led the last 45 laps en route to victory.

Here are three takeaways from The Athletic’s NASCAR writers Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi.

Triumphant Preece

Ryan Preece has long been known as a short-track ace, but he had yet to translate that skill into a trip to victory lane in the NASCAR Cup Series.

After Stewart-Haas Racing shut down at the end of 2024, costing Preece his ride, it seemed like there was a real possibility his NASCAR dreams might have reached the end of the road.

“Two years ago, I didn’t think I was going to have a job,” a tearful Preece said after the race. “I thought I was going back to Connecticut. I’m just super, super emotional.”

Preece said those words as the winner of a Cup race, proving to himself and the garage that he can succeed at NASCAR’s top level.

Yes, it was only an exhibition race. The official record books won’t show Preece with a win in the all-time Cup Series victories list.

Still, this was a race where the best drivers were going all out — and in a physical, no-holds-barred way. Preece, a gritty New Englander, prevailed.

There’s a lot of pride in that, especially for an RFK Racing organization that was completely shut out from victory lane last season with its three Cup cars.

Does this change the trajectory of Preece’s career? No. But it is confirmation that he and his team can do it, and it gave us a great note to start on for 2026. — Jeff Gluck

A Race To RememBrr

A sleet delay. An event-record 17 cautions. A race so long it exceeded Fox’s broadcast window by more than an hour and eventually forced a switch from network TV to FS2. Controversial officiating decisions when cars started running out of fuel.

All of this for an exhibition race already delayed by three days due to the biggest North Carolina snowstorm in more than 20 years.

If Wednesday night’s Clash felt like, well, a lot for a 50-mile race, that’s because it was.

There’s a fine line for NASCAR races when they go from entertaining and maybe a bit silly to “uh, this seems like too much of a circus.” Unfortunately, the second half of this one — after some frozen moisture began falling from the sky and changed the race’s dynamic — got a bit too out of control.

Some of that had to do with NASCAR’s rule not to count caution laps in the race. That turned the event into a 3-hour, 13-minute affair, of which only one hour was run under the green flag.

Drivers were mixed on what to do with the future of the race. Mostly, they seemed ready to go home and get warm for a few days before heading south to the Daytona 500, which already holds its qualifying session next Wednesday. — Jeff Gluck

What’s next for the Clash?

NASCAR caught a break with the weather a year ago when the temperature, while cool, was tolerable and there were no postponements or delays due to snow, rain, ice or all three. That certainly wasn’t the case with the Clash this go-round.

A major winter storm pushed the race from Sunday to Wednesday, and NASCAR deserves credit for getting the track ready despite all the challenges it faced. Those who braved the frigid cold on Wednesday night should be commended for coming out to watch.

Holding a race in central North Carolina at this time of the year is playing roulette with Mother Nature, and it was a gamble NASCAR just lost.

Can it afford to run it back at Bowman Gray in 2027?

The answer is a resounding yes, based on the quality of racing Bowman Gray produces when not weather-impacted. When the conditions allowed it on Wednesday night, the racing was terrific — quintessential short-track racing. The caveat, however, is when the conditions allowed it. The conditions in February at Bowman Gray are too unpredictable not to wonder whether NASCAR is better served by shifting the Clash to a different venue, preferably somewhere that offers a better chance to race in more amenable weather.

The problem, of course, is that there aren’t many tracks in warm-weather locales able to host NASCAR’s premier series. Returning the Clash to Daytona International Speedway, where the event ran from 1979-2021, is the suggestion of many within the garage — albeit in a format more in line with the race’s roots (i.e., a smaller field and shorter distance than what the race became in its later years there).

The idea deserves exploring, though it is one that offers its challenges. As the 2024 Clash in Los Angeles demonstrated, weather can still significantly alter a NASCAR race even in an area where weather shouldn’t be a factor. Something else to be mindful of is that a third year of the Clash at Bowman Gray runs the risk of diminishing the novelty, much like what happened in Los Angeles.

Maybe shifting the Clash elsewhere in 2027 will make a return trip to Bowman Gray in February more tolerable when the exhibition inevitably returns to the North Carolina short track. — Jordan Bianchi