It was a relatively uneventful NASCAR Cup Series silly season, with only one driver moving to a new team, one driver leaving the series to realign with a former team at a lower level, and one driver joining the series from a lower level.
The only other changes? A car number change and two manufacturer changes, with the manufacturer swaps both affecting single-car teams that finished outside of the top 30 in the 2025 owner standings.
So naturally, we haven’t even reached the preseason Cook Out Clash exhibition race at Bowman Gray Stadium, and we’ve already had a driver change.
Of course, this particular driver change was expected.
After falling and breaking his leg in mid-December, RFK Racing’s Brad Keselowski placed his full focus on being back and ready to go for the official season-opening Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway in mid-February.
There was no point in chancing it by rushing back for an exhibition race at a football stadium two weeks prior, and as a result, Corey LaJoie is set to be behind the wheel of the No. 6 Ford at the four-turn, 0.25-mile (0.402-kilometer) Winston-Salem, North Carolina oval this weekend.
LaJoie is also notably set to pilot a fourth RFK Racing entry, the non-chartered (open) No. 99 Ford, in an attempt to qualify for the Daytona 500 for the 10th consecutive season (with six different teams).
Aside from the 36 chartered cars, there are two open cars on this weekend’s entry list. Team AmeriVet are set to field the No. 50 Chevrolet for Bowman Gray Stadium legend Burt Myers, while Garage 66 are set to field the No. 66 Ford for Chad Finchum. Garage 66 also plan on attempting to qualify for the Daytona 500 with Casey Mears.
This weekend’s festivities are set to include four 25-lap heat races, a 75-lap Last Chance Qualifier, and the 200-lap main event. The main event is set to feature 23 of the 38 drivers on the entry list, with 20 determined by the heat races, two determined by the Last Chance Qualifier, and one determined by the 2025 point standings.
Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson is the lone driver already locked into the Clash, thanks to the fact that he won the 2025 championship.
Tune in to Fox Sports 1 at 6:00 p.m. ET on Saturday and then again at 6:00 p.m. ET on Sunday for all things Cook Out Clash from Bowman Gray Stadium. Start a free trial of FuboTV if you have not yet had the opportunity to do so!