WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Bumping, beating and banging were the headliners Saturday night, along with Chase Elliott, in the return of the NASCAR Cup Series to Bowman Gray Stadium for the first time since 1971.
Elliott won the first of four heat races on the quarter-mile track and will start Sunday night’s Cook Out Clash from the pole.
Heat 1 race results
Heat 2 race results
Heat 3 race results
Heat 4 race results
His race was a rough-and-tumble 25-lap affair that saw multiple cautions for incidents, including contact between Kyle Busch and Justin Haley, and even three-wide racing at one point. Josh Berry and Austin Dillon also tangled in that race. They had a brief civil discussion afterward.
“Looked like our race got kind of rough at points in time and the crowd reaction reflected it,” Elliott said of the sold-out crowd at Bowman Gray Stadium, which is known as the “Madhouse” for its physical action on and off the track.
The next two heat races — won by Chris Buescher and Denny Hamlin — were much smoother but things changed in the final heat race of the night.
John Hunter Nemechek moved Ryan Preece for position in the final heat and Preece repaid him by hitting him in the back and sending Nemechek’s car into the SAFER barrier, suffering damage in the right rear. NASCAR will allow the team to enter the garage at 10 a.m. ET Sunday — four hours early — to fix the car.
Nemechek, through a team spokesperson, declined to talk to the media afterward as he looked over his car with his team.
Also in that race, Cole Custer and AJ Allmendinger made contact resulting in Allmendinger getting turned after Custer was squeezed into the wall. They talked briefly after the race.
By starting on the pole for the Clash, Elliott will be in a good place to avoid the beating and banging that happened in Saturday’s heat races.
“It’s going to be tough to win from the third or fourth row,” Elliott said. “I think the first couple of rows certainly have a massive advantage on the rest of the field. Obviously anything can happen … and I’m well aware of that.
“But I think just in a normal circumstance of people not totally crashing each other or whatever — yeah, I certainly would want to be on the first couple of rows and, fortunately, we are. We’ll try to take advantage of that.”
Ryan Blaney failed to advance to the Clash in his heat but he is assured the last starting position because he finished highest in points last year (second) among the 19 cars that did not earn a spot in the Clash through the heat races. Those cars will vie for two spots in the Clash in the last chance qualifier at 6 p.m. ET Sunday. The Clash, 200 green-flag laps, is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET Sunday.
Here is the starting lineup for Sunday’s Clash:
1. Chase Elliott
2. Chris Buescher
3. Denny Hamlin
4. Tyler Reddick
5. Brad Keselowski
6. Chase Briscoe
7. Joey Logano
8. Christopher Bell
9. Noah Gragson
10. Shane van Gisbergen
11. William Byron
12. Ryan Preece
13. Kyle Busch
14. Bubba Wallace
15. Carson Hocevar
16. Austin Cindric
17. Ross Chastain
18. Daniel Suarez
19. Alex Bowman
20. Todd Gilliland
21. Winner of Sunday’s last chance qualifier
22. Runner-up of Sunday’s last chance qualifier
23. Highest driver in points last year not yet in Clash (Ryan Blaney)
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