An emotional Ryan Preece couldn’t stop himself from tearing up and dropping a celebratory F-Bomb as he claimed victory in the Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium.
The Madhouse lived up to its name, as the race — which was already postponed several days due to snow — featured a record 17 cautions, and ended on wet-weather tires after sleet hit the track mid-race at around lap 100.
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Preece drove the No. 60 car to a hard-fought win over William Byron and Ryan Blaney. Daniel Suarez finished fourth, Denny Hamlin fifth, Chase Briscoe sixth, Austin Dillon seventh, Chris Buescher eighth, Ross Chastain ninth, and Alex Bowman tenth.
“I don’t know even know what to say. To be honest with you, it’s been a f****** long road,” said Preece as he tried to fight back tears in Victory Lane. “It’s the Clash, but man, it’s just been years and years of grinding. I’m super thankful for Brad Keselowski, Kroger, Coca Cola, all our partners … Two years ago, I didn’t think I was going to have a job. I thought I was going back home to Connecticut. I’m just super, super emotional.”
Preece joins Jeff Gordon and Denny Hamlin as the only drivers to have won the Clash before their first official race win.
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Race recap
At the start of the race, Larson and Byron worked together to control the lanes, and Larson dominated the first stint of the race.
The first caution came on Lap 41 for ‘weepers’, as snow melt leaked under the SAFER Barrier and down the track.
Eventually, when the race was underway Briscoe arrived to break up the Hendrick 1-2, passing Byron for second. There was then a chain-reaction crash as Logano hit Chastain, who hit Blaney, who hit Wallace and sent the No. 23 spinning.
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Briscoe held strong on the outside in the restart that followed, but eventually fell back to third. The first lead change came on Lap 71 as Byron powered around Larson, with Briscoe following him through.
Larson began to drop back through the field, and fell all the way to tenth place by the halfway break.
The next caution was for Cindric, who went around after contact from van Gisbergen. SVG voiced frustration with people using him up on the radio, indicating that the incident was payback. He also took issue with former teammate Suarez, saying: “I guess he’s excited he’s not my teammate. He can hit me now.”
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Those ex-teammates had more run-ins in the first half of the race. At the halfway break, Suarez started trading blows with Wallace under caution and radioed: “I’m going to kick his f***** ass. And tell the #97 I’m coming for him.”
Byron eventually lost the lead to the JGR duo of Briscoe and Gibbs, and Gibbs actually took the lead from Briscoe just before the halfway break.
Bad weather hits at halfway…rain tires on
At the competition caution, Gibbs led Briscoe, Byron, Blaney, and Hocevar.
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During the break, sleet began to fall down on the track, and NASCAR halted the race in order to put wet-weather tires on all cars. After a bit of a delay, they finally let the field go back racing.
On the restart, cars were all over the track searching for grip. It didn’t take long for chaos to break out as Hamlin, Larson, and Preece went spinning.
The next restart went a bit smoother, and Briscoe took command of the race. Cars were running far up the track as they found the fastest lane to be close to the wall.
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Josh Berry, who won the LCQ earlier in the night, hit the wall and came to a halt, forcing another caution flag.
The next caution came for an incident involving Cindric, which briefly blocked the track. Hocevar powered into the race lead on the next restart sliding up in front of Briscoe.
As they battled for the lead, Hamlin went for a spin in front of them, triggering another caution. There were earlier incidents involving Gibbs and then Blaney, but NASCAR held the yellow as they were able to keep rolling.
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Crash involving Ty Gibbs, Chase Elliott
Crash involving Ty Gibbs, Chase Elliott
The restart was full-contact, but the next yellow was for A. Dillon spun around. On the ensuing restart, Van Gisbergen muscled his way into the race lead as Elliott went for a spin.
Once again, the driver on the inside got the advantage as Preece muscled his way by SVG for the lead before Logano and Hamlin went spinning. SVG got the lead back via the bottom the next restart, as Gibbs spun off the nose of Zilisch within the pack. Hocevar was among those who got collected, losing part of his right-front fender.
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SVG opted for the inside row and retained the lead on the next restart. For the first time in a while, things got single-file and Larson came to a halt as he radioed that he was out of fuel.
As the track began to dry, SVG appeared to lose some of his advantage and fell back a few spots as Preece took command.
Another Hendrick driver then ran out of fuel, this time Elliott. On the ensuing restart, Briscoe sent SVG spinning, causing a multi-car crash that also collected Zilisch and Wallace.
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With 35 laps to go, NASCAR brought all of the cars to pit road to allow everyone to ensure they have enough fuel in the tank. Both Hocevar and Reddick tried to put slicks on, but NASCAR told them that they were not allowed to.
Preece continued to lead as Byron moved into the position of chaser. With 20 laps to go, Wallace sent Hocevar around in what appeared to be intentional. Blaney moved into second on the restart as Larson crashed in the middle of the field after colliding with Gibbs and Busch.
The final run to the flag saw Byron desperately trying to reach Preece, but he couldn’t get there as the No. 60 RFK Racing Ford captured Roush’s first win in the Clash since 1999.
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