The massive hype for NASCAR’s 2026 opener melted down. But NASCAR is nowhere near melting the snowy catastrophe that unfolded at Bowman Grey Stadium. The 0.250-mile paved short-track oval is an iconic racetrack that reveals close-quarters racing and energetic fan energy. A weather-battered occasion stole the luster from these parts, resulting in a requirement for a return to Daytona. Nonetheless, an insider deflated this demand with legitimate causes.
Wooing extra chaos for NASCAR
“I don’t assume we’ll see it at Daytona as a result of the quantity of labor the speedway vehicles take after which risking wrecking, you already know, at a excessive degree, and you then’re dropping vehicles, and like the cash side, the enterprise a part of that half is de facto robust. Even turning the lights on at Daytona versus turning the lights on at Bowman Grey is loads completely different, proper?” NASCAR FOX
Commercial
After the 2026 Cook dinner Out Conflict race, a spherical of calls for sprang up on social media, with folks eager for Daytona. NASCAR held the Conflict occasion initially on the racetrack in Daytona Seashore, Florida, from 1979 till 2021. In 2022, the exhibition migrated west to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and spent three years there. It debuted at Bowman Grey in 2025.
NASCAR, Motorsport, USA Coke Zero Sugar 400 Aug 23, 2025 Daytona Seashore, Florida, USA Drivers get the inexperienced flag to begin the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona Worldwide Speedway.
The racing at was good, and the climate is often heat. Additionally, Daytona has many issues to do outdoors of the monitor. Winston-Salem, North Carolina, doesn’t meet two of the aforementioned qualities. Nonetheless, Mamba Smith’s argument factors to different points plaguing Daytona. It’s a superspeedway that’s liable to frequent wrecks resulting from NASCAR’s Subsequent-Gen automotive and its aerodynamic properties. So, incurring hefty crash bills for an exhibition race in the beginning of the season is probably not ultimate.
The Conflict race witnessed a report 17 cautions, which unfolded resulting from two causes. First was the quarter-mile racing inside . Secondly, the climate performed an enormous issue. Snowstorms had already pushed again the race date, and drivers needed to placed on wet-weather tires to race within the racing after the midway mark of the 200-lap occasion. What ensued was chaos as purple flags peppered the race.
Commercial
But Mamba Smith remains to be rooting for Bowman Grey, as is a horde of different drivers.
Positivity regardless of the messy fallout
Regardless of the weather-battered scenario at Bowman Grey, a number of constructive elements additionally featured the Conflict race. As an illustration, RFK Racing reached a breakthrough with Ryan Preece, who picked up his first win within the Cup Sequence. After 223 Cup begins with 7 top-five finishes, Preece is launching his strongest 12 months with RFK. Then, Shane van Gisgbergen led laps at a monitor which isn’t a highway course – signalling a brilliant 12 months for the Trackhouse driver.
Denny Hamlin completed fifth after weathering a storm of non-public challenges within the low season. Daniel Suarez, who moved to Spire Motorsports from Trackhouse,
Commercial
These tales of success should not actually fringe, as they uplift Bowman Grey’s potential. That’s what emphasised, attempting to deflate the climate debacle. “I don’t assume you possibly can choose a race or a monitor off of that bizarre climate circumstance,” mentioned the 2023 Cup Sequence champion. “”Simply the way in which [in the rain], calamity as it could be with anyplace. I respect the followers sticking round all evening. I guess that was brutal in these aluminum grandstands. Chilly a–es up there.”
Clearly, Bowman Grey stole hearts regardless of getting caught within the rain and the snow. Let’s wait and see what NASCAR decides for the long run.
