\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In 10 attempts at NASCAR\u2019s annual pre-season exhibition race, Spire Motorsports has made two appearances in the feature event. Carson Hocevar, driver of the team\u2019s No. 77 Zeigler Automotive Group Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, finished 16th in last season\u2019s installment of the Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium. The Mooresville, N.C., organization fields the Nos. 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1s on NASCAR\u2019s senior circuit with Daniel Su\u00e1rez, Michael McDowell and Hocevar, respectively.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The NASCAR Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium will be televised live on FOX Sunday, Feb. 1 beginning at 8 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST). The 2025 pre-season exhibition race will be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. NASCAR Raceday on FOX will take the green flag at 7:30 p.m. EST.<\/p>\n
Daniel Su\u00e1rez \u2013 Driver, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Daniel Su\u00e1rez will pilot Spire Motorsports\u2019 No. 7 Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in Sunday\u2019s Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C., as he embarks on his 10th full season in the NASCAR Cup Series and first with the team.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Su\u00e1rez has competed in five NASCAR Clash events dating back to 2017. Su\u00e1rez competed in the 2017 and 2019 Clashes at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway, earning eighth- and 10th-place results, respectively. When the Cup Series ventured cross-country for the 2023 Busch Light Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Su\u00e1rez picked up a top-five in the feature event. In last year\u2019s inaugural Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium, the Mexico native raced his way into the main event where he finished 18th.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The 34-year-old joins Spire Motorsports with 323 Cup Series starts where he\u2019s notched two wins, 24 top fives and 75 top 10s in NASCAR\u2019s premier division. Meanwhile, Su\u00e1rez has led 907 laps and earned three poles since 2017.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation will make its first appearance of 2026 aboard Su\u00e1rez\u2019s Chevy this weekend. The Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation (CRSF) empowers communities with clean, safe places for underserved youth to play, learn, and grow. Since 2018, Group 1001 and the CRSF have combined efforts to build 17 youth development parks and install 20 STEM centers nationwide. Group 1001 employees have joined CRSF to host and volunteer for four Community Enhancement Projects. CRSF and Group 1001 have impacted over 100,000 youth in their joint effort to promote active lifestyles and educational opportunities. For more information, visit https:\/\/ripkenfoundation.org\/.<\/p>\n
DRIVER PERFORMANCE \u2013 BOWMAN GRAY STADIUM<\/p>\n
\u00a0Year\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0NASCAR Cup Series Race \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Start \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Finish \u00a0Laps<\/p>\n
\u00a02\/2\/2025 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0NASCAR Clash \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a018 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a022 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0198\/200<\/p>\n
Daniel Su\u00e1rez Quotes<\/p>\n
A special partnership returns to the No. 7 Chevrolet for the Clash. What does it mean to you to represent the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation and its mission?<\/p>\n
\u201cCal Ripken, Sr. had an amazing career and the legacy he left behind, especially the work the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation, is doing to support younger generations through their STEM programs and education, is truly remarkable. I am personally a very big believer in the younger generation and to see how they impact the youth is unbelievable. I\u2019m thrilled to be a part of this partnership.\u201d<\/p>\n
What makes the Clash such a valuable race for you as you begin the season with your team?<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really eager to get started this year. The first Clash is especially important because it\u2019s our first race to focus on communication and how we talk through the car and whether it\u2019s handling tight or loose. I\u2019m looking forward to seeing where we stack up, how we can make progress throughout the weekend, and how this will set the tone for the 2026 season.\u201d<\/p>\n
Atop the No. 7 Box \u2013 Crew Chief Ryan Sparks<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ryan Sparks returns to his role as crew chief of the No. 7 team for the 2026 season. Sparks has called the shots for 202 NASCAR Cup Series races, earning four top-five and 10 top-10 finishes over the course of his career.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The Winston\u2011Salem, N.C., native has multiple Clash starts as a crew chief. He began his career as a Cup Series crew chief in 2020 with Corey LaJoie and later worked with Justin Haley, overseeing more than 200 starts through 2025.<\/p>\n
Michael McDowell \u2013 Driver, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Michael McDowell will pilot Spire Motorsports\u2019 No. 71 Workforce Operational Health and Safety Solutions Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in Sunday\u2019s Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 McDowell steps into his second season behind the wheel of the No. 71 following a 2025 campaign full of firsts for the organization. The driver collected two poles, which included the first in Spire Motorsports history at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March, and the team\u2019s first stage win on the streets of Chicago.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Overall, the 10-year Cup Series veteran holds eight poles, two wins, 14 top-five and 50 top-10 finishes.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The father-of-five tallied three top-five, six top-10, 15 top-15, and 22 top-20 finishes during the 2025 season, all while earning the most points in team history (734).<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The 41-year-old driver looks to improve on his 2025 attempt at \u201cThe Madhouse\u201d that saw the No. 71 finish fifth in the Last Chance Qualifier, falling three positions short of transferring to the main event.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Prior to 2025, the Clash was held at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum where McDowell successfully transferred to the main event each year (2022-2024) and collected a personal-best finish of 16th in 2022.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Workforce Operational Health and Safety Solutions will serve as the primary partner for McDowell and the No. 71 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for this weekend\u2019s Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium. The blue and white livery will return at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March and again for the Cup Series contest at Richmond Raceway in August.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sunday\u2019s event marks the second year of the annual exhibition race being held at historic Bowman Gray Stadium. The 2025 event was the first Cup Series race held at Bowman Gray Stadium since 1971 and served as the first short track event of the year. Following his performance at the Clash, McDowell earned an average start of 14.5 and average finish of 21.1 on the short tracks of Bristol, Martinsville, Richmond, and Iowa.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Workforce is an Occupational Health and Safety Solutions firm based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with partners throughout North America. For over thirty years, Workforce has provided support to clients through the operation of its three divisions \u2013 Work Injury Management, Medical Bill Repricing, and Employer Services. The Work Injury Management Division connects employees to telephonic physician services with expedited access to a nationwide network of medical providers, including specialty, imaging, and therapy services \u2013 and employer access to recordable injury investigation, injury impact mitigation services, preferred medical provider panel development, and more. The Medical Bill Repricing Division provides cost containment services by minimizing incident, experience, and injury frequency rates while reducing exposure to insurance premium increases. The Employer Services Division provides employee onboarding services, corporate safety committee oversight, required annual certification coordination, and integration of any required testing, licensing, or accreditation. Since 1995, Workforce remains focused on developing partnerships with employers that facilitate a positive impact on any health and safety issues encountered at the workplace.<\/p>\n
DRIVER PERFORMANCE \u2013 BOWMAN GRAY STADIUM<\/p>\n
Date \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0NASCAR Cup Series Race \u00a0\u00a0 Start \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Finish Laps<\/p>\n
2\/2\/2025 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0NASCAR Clash \u2013 LCQ \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 4 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 5 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 75\/75<\/p>\n
Michael McDowell Quote<\/p>\n
What is your perspective heading into Bowman Gray this weekend?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s nice just get out to the track, go through the process, make sure everything is functioning, and working well. The heat races and last chance qualifier are pretty tricky. It was exciting, but hard to pass last year. I\u2019m ready to get to Bowman Gray and have a shot at it, hopefully the weather works with us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Atop the No. 71 Box \u2013 Crew Chief Travis Peterson<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In 2025, the potent duo of Michael McDowell and crew chief Travis Peterson tallied two poles, three top-five, and six top-10 finishes.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Peterson, 34, positioned his driver in the feature event each time the race was contested at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, twice with McDowell, and previously as an engineer for Chris Buescher at RFK Racing.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The decorated engineer\u2019s tenure at RFK Racing, Hendrick Motorsports and JR Motorsports is highlighted by a NASCAR O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts Series title in 2014 and three Cup Series wins with Dale Earnhardt, Jr., in 2015.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Peterson is a mechanical engineering graduate of the Williams States Lee College of Engineering at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. The West Bend, Wis., native earned his degree in 2012.<\/p>\n
Carson Hocevar \u2013 Driver, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Carson Hocevar will kick off his third NASCAR Cup Series season behind the wheel of Spire Motorsports\u2019 No. 77 Zeigler Automotive Group Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in Sunday\u2019s Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Hocevar, who celebrates his 23rd birthday Wednesday, earned a spot in last season\u2019s inaugural Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium via a fourth-place finish his heat race. Despite racing his way to sixth, just past the event\u2019s halfway point, contact from behind triggered a chain reaction sending him spinning in Turn 3. Hocevar recovered to finish 16th, racking up the third-most green-flag passes (31) and fifth-most quality passes (18) in the process.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The former Late Model standout cut his teeth on short tracks across the Midwest. He secured a victory in CRA Super Series competition at Flat Rock (Mich.) Speedway, a flat quarter-mile oval, similar to Bowman Gray, in June 2021.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The Portage, Mich., native rounded out the 2025 campaign with one pole, two top-five, nine top-10 and 14 top-15 finishes, including a pair of runners-up results at Atlanta Motor Speedway (Feb.) and Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway (June).<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Zeigler Automotive Group is one of the largest privately-owned dealer groups in the U.S. with 88 franchises across 41 locations in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan. Vehicle brands represented include all the domestic and majority of the imported manufacturers. Besides its extensive automotive portfolio, the organization owns and operates Zeigler Motorsports, an 85,000-square-foot motorsports dealership and action park, offering 19 different powersports brands, plus its own onsite restaurant: Trak Houz Bar & Grill. Additionally, Zeigler Motorsports houses the Elevate Leadership & Team Building Academy, an executive training company. The Kalamazoo-based dealer group also owns three Byrider franchises, three finance companies, several insurance firms, and a leasing firm.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The yellow and black Zeigler colors will return to Hocevar\u2019s No. 77 Chevrolet 11 more times in 2026, beginning with the June 7 FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway. The automotive juggernaut will again be showcased throughout the summer at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway, Chicagoland (Ill.) Speedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Iowa Speedway and Richmond (Va.) Raceway. Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway will jump start the fall schedule in September, while Kansas Speedway and Martinsville (Va.) Speedway will close out Zeigler Automotive Group\u2019s 2026 campaign.<\/p>\n
DRIVER PERFORMANCE \u2013 BOWMAN GRAY STADIUM<\/p>\n
Date \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0NASCAR Cup Series Race \u00a0\u00a0 Start \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Finish Laps<\/p>\n
2\/2\/2025 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0NASCAR Clash \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 15 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 16 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 199\/200<\/p>\n
Carson Hocevar Quotes<\/p>\n
You qualified for the first Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium. Can replicate that this weekend?<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m excited for it. I don\u2019t get around Martinsville very well, but for some reason, I\u2019m not too bad at getting around Bowman Gray. We were running sixth last year before getting spun. I think we were something like the second-fastest car on lap times. I thought we realistically had a shot to run with Chase (Elliott), so hopefully we can unload with the same speed on Saturday. It would be interesting to win my first race in a non-points race, but it would be a great way to start the new year.\u201d<\/p>\n
What is it like competing in the wild environment \u2018The Madhouse\u2019 promotes?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a lot of fun. The place is packed. It reminds me of going to local short tracks as a kid, but with the nice, fancy Cup cars beating and banging around that little place. It\u2019s cool because I just ran the Gateway Dirt Nationals in St. Louis and went to the Chili Bowl in Tulsa. Bowman Gray reminds me a lot of those places, you just don\u2019t have a roof over your head.\u201d<\/p>\n
Spire Motorsports PR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In 10 attempts at NASCAR\u2019s annual pre-season exhibition race, Spire Motorsports has made two appearances in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":437259,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,717,925,374,13157,77,720,634,17819,721,722,82],"class_list":["post-437258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-charlotte","tag-daytona","tag-fox","tag-group","tag-international","tag-motor","tag-nascar","tag-nationwide","tag-series","tag-speedway","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=437258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437258\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/437259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=437258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=437258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=437258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}