The NASCAR Cup Series season informally began with the Cook Out Clash exhibition race on Sunday at the quarter-mile Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C., and the best of stock car racing was on display.
Chase Elliott won Sunday’s Clash, leading 172 of 200 laps and holding off Ryan Blaney to win.
Other than added SAFER barriers and ads painted on the infield, Bowman Gray Stadium was the same track that local drivers in Winston-Salem race on weekly. It forced drivers to use bumpers to make passes, though with the understanding that bumping can go both ways.
It produced some of the best racing of the series over the last several years and a major upgrade from the makeshift LA Coliseum track of the past three years in the Clash.
Here is our list of winners and losers coming out of the NASCAR Clash:
RECAP: NASCAR Cup Series race at Clash: Live updates, highlights, live leaderboard as Chase Elliott wins the Clash
FROM THE LCQ: Watch Ty Gibbs’ car go airborne after NASCAR Clash wreck with Justin Haley
NASCAR Clash winners and losers
Winner: Ryan Blaney
What a stunning drive for the 2023 Cup Series champion. Blaney elected to settle for the points provisional after finishing outside of the top five in Saturday’s heat race, locking him into the 23rd and last starting spot on Sunday. Blaney steadily worked through the field up to the halfway break, then raced into the top 10 early in the second half of the 200-lap event.
Blaney avoided a pair of crashes and chased down Denny Hamlin for second place with 50 laps to go. Blaney couldn’t quite catch Elliott for the lead as the two worked through lap traffic, and a near-wreck while trying to pass Kyle Busch with 10 laps to go all but ended his chances at the win.
Still, other than Elliott’s win, Blaney’s run through the field was the story of the night.
Winner: Bowman Gray Stadium
This weekend was a major success for fans at the track and watching at home. The track forces drivers to be physical but smart with who and how they race. Local star and track champion Burt Myers wrecked late in the last chance qualifier but was competitive. The stands were filled throughout Sunday’s qualifier and the main event, and the 200-lap Clash was some of the best racing of the last several seasons as the series’ best drivers drove balancing tact and aggression.
Something about this weekend was different than the LA Coliseum Clash racing (and the last two years of the All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro, for what it is worth). The site of the 2026 Clash has yet to be announced, but I cannot imagine there being a place that produces more compelling racing than BGS.
This was the best short-track racing of the NextGen era.
Loser: Kyle Busch and RCR
Busch was never competitive in the race, spinning on Lap 21 and staying outside the top 10 for the entirety of the race. He finished 15th.
This isn’t about one race; Busch’s night looked like a copycat from so many races in 2024. The No. 8 Richard Childress Racing team hoped those performances were in the past. Not only did Busch struggle, but Austin Dillon failed to make the Clash field at his grandfather’s home track.
Loser: Ty Gibbs
Gibbs was by the far the highest-profile car/driver combination to miss the 200-lap main. Despite leading early in the last chance qualifier, he fell behind Kyle Larson, Austin Dillon, Erik Jones and others. Josh Berry spun Gibbs around on Lap 57, all but ensuring that he was going to miss the field.
Who knows what internal pressure is on Gibbs in 2025, given his family connection to Joe Gibbs Racing. He is only 22 after all, but this is his third full season in the Cup Series and he’s yet to win a race or establish himself as a consistent contender. This weekend was not a good start to the season for the No. 54 Toyota.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: NASCAR Clash winners and losers: Ryan Blaney nearly goes worst to first
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