NASCAR
Stratta’s Six: Who Could Show Out Under the Lights at The Madhouse Clash?
Racing returns this weekend in peak throwback fashion. NASCAR’s oldest operating weekly racetrack, Winston-Salem, North Carolina’s Bowman Gray Stadium, will host the 2025 Clash. The preseason exhibition event shifts 2,500 miles east from the L.A. Coliseum into the heart of NASCAR country. Sunday will mark the first time Cup cars compete at ‘The Madhouse’ in over five decades. Who can come out on top in this ultimate gift to grassroots short track fans? Despite no on-track action in three months, there are a few favorites for the Cook Out Clash.
Kyle Larson
Very few races on the Cup Series schedule don’t see Kyle Larson as a favorite. While Larson has yet to find victory in a past Clash event, he does boast six career short track wins. The last three years of the Clash have also seen the Hendrick 5 in the mix up front. The California kid finishing fifth each time at the Coliseum. A past K&N Pro Series competitor at Bowman Gray, Larson is excited to return to a tough, grueling Madhouse.
“I’m sure it’ll be tough to pass this weekend,” Larson said. “I hope we can give the fans the kind of exciting racing they’re used to seeing on a Saturday night in the summer. I’m sure the energy will be high in the stands – and be crazy on the track, too.”
Larson is no stranger to success in non-points races, having three All-Star Race triumphs all on different tracks. Nobody in the sport has quite the versatility of this Hendrick driver. Like most weeks the 5 should be up to speed with relative ease chasing another trophy.
Kyle Busch
Can The Madhouse get Rowdy this weekend? Nobody has been painstakingly closer to a Coliseum Clash victory than Kyle Busch. Likewise no team is more intertwined in Bowman Gray history than RCR. Busch had a worst finish of third across the three L.A. Clash races, being within eyesight of the winner each of the last three seasons. 2024 also saw Busch’s first ever winless Cup campaign. In short, Busch hopes to rewrite headlines in his maiden Madhouse showing.
“I’ve never raced at Bowman Gray before,” Busch said. “You see some of the highlight reels on TV of all the craziness that can happen, with people wrecking each other and whatnot. I’ve never been there to see a race. I’ve got a few friends that have raced there for years though, including Burt Myers, which is cool. So I’ll lean on some of those guys to figure out how to get around there fast. It’s a place that’s been a part of NASCAR history for many decades. It’s really cool to get a chance to race there. It’s my first time, and it’s going to be fun.”
Busch is historically known as a pavement short track ace. He has laps turned on countless bullrings across the country in many different cars. A first trip to the Winston-Salem venue will be an uphill battle, but it is a surmountable summit for Busch to taste victory lane again.
Denny Hamlin
The reigning Clash winner, Denny Hamlin will be going for the unique distinction of a second-straight victory on an opposite coast. Last season saw the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota lead 58 circuits, coincidentally taking command with 11 laps left.
Hamlin is another very decorated short track ace who spent his early days pounding the pavement on bullrings. Track dimensions and width especially are just one big difference however between the L.A. temporary layout and Bowman Gray Stadium. Now as the most experienced Cup driver in the field, Hamlin is eyeing a fifth overall Clash win. Should Hamlin see the checkers first on Sunday, this win total would only dwarf Dale Earnhardt’s record six Clash victories.
Joey Logano
No conversation about potential winners on a new racetrack is complete without mentioning Joey Logano. The Penske 22 crew appear to have an uncanny ability to adapt and succeed immediately on a wide variety of new circuits. Bristol Dirt, the L.A. Clash, and Gateway all saw their inaugural Cup races end the same way–with the 22 in victory lane. No team thrives under more pressure or appear quicker to beat any new challenge than the reigning champions.
“I don’t know if it’s very free, it’s pretty confined in there,” Logano said. “It’s pretty tight racing. You’re not gonna be able to open her up too much, but the pressure feels a lot different when you go there, only because there’s nothing to lose, really per se and everything to win. There’s a trophy to win and a lot of really cool factors to be the first to win at a racetrack, and it’s nice to get a little momentum built and all those type of things.”
“There are a lot of reasons to want to go race, but if something was to happen, it’s not the end of the world. Would I be upset if you turn on TV and I get dumped are you gonna see Joey Logano pissed off? Absolutely, because I want to win, but it doesn’t affect the rest of our season, and I think all of the drivers probably feel similar, I would assume. If you win, awesome. If you don’t win, yeah, you might be mad for a few hours, but you’re gonna get over it and start thinking about Daytona.”
“I think there’s gonna be bumping and banging, there’s no doubt. It’s such a tight facility that you’re gonna be bumping and banging. But I would also say things that happen at this racetrack will carry into the regular season, and so it doesn’t mean you throw all caution to the wind and you don’t care about competitors, you don’t care about the future, you don’t care about all that stuff. I always say it’s a self policing sport, so I don’t think it’s one of those racetracks where you’re gonna want to make a bunch of enemies, but at the same time, I don’t know if there are gonna be many passes made without contact. I think there’s kind of what’s acceptable and what’s not, and I think everyone kind of knows what that is.”
While the L.A. temporary track was not a perfect clone of Bowman Gray, it was designed with The Madhouse as a template. Logano had one of the best records out west, with two top-fives in three Coliseum starts. Can the Coliseum magic translate to another historic football field-turned-racetrack?
William Byron
It would be more than fitting for a native Carolinian to take the maiden Cook Out Clash in Winston-Salem. Perhaps none are better poised than William Byron for a home state win. The Hendrick No. 24 is a threat at seemingly every short track, having a Martinsville win from last April. Past success on bullrings is no guarantee for anything on such a tightly-confined track, however.
“The track is even smaller than the Coliseum, so I’ll be interested to see if that expands at all for us, if they move some things around,” Byron said. “But, I think that it’s just a really tight quarters race track and it’s going to create some bumping and banging naturally because that’s the only way to pass.”
“I feel like the fan base is a lot more traditional, so there’ll be a lot of passionate race fans. So, I’m sure if you move someone out of the way or if you get wrecked, you’ll hear about it. So it’ll be fun to see how the fan interaction is for sure.”
The reigning Daytona 500 Champion would love nothing more than to add one more win to his belt before his Speedweeks defense begins. Byron is one of the most calculating drivers on Sunday’s grid. The 24 may have more history to write in Winston.
Ryan Preece
Only one full-time Cup driver has held a Bowman Gray Stadium trophy before–Ryan Preece. The Connecticut driver won a Whelen Southern Modified Tour race at The Madhouse in 2013, part of a banner year that saw him win the National title. Growing up racing Modifieds across New England, Preece spent years cutting his teeth on flat tracks like Bowman Gray. Some of this short track talent shone through at the L.A. Clash two years ago, when Preece led 43 laps. Preece believes that he does have a bit of an upper hand in his first outing with RFK Racing.
“That was one that would have been nice just from a momentum side,” Preece said about the 2023 Clash. “That could have really helped, so, yeah, it would have been great just to win – not that it was a points paying event or anything like that – but it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter if you’re racing a micro, a modified or whatever it is, you still want to win. Certainly, I still think about it and wish that what happened didn’t happen, but you can’t change that and you look forward to that next race, but going to Bowman Gray it’s kind of like resetting. A lot of these guys haven’t been there in a long time, if they have, or they haven’t been there at all, so it’s just right back to everybody is on an even playing field.”
“I really, to be honest with you, do not think that Bowman Gray is similar to L.A. Yeah, it’s a quarter mile, but the straightaways are different. The way you’ve got to brake into the corner is gonna be different. Passing is gonna be way tougher, so how physical do you want to get with that? I think it’s just basically taking a white board, grabbing an eraser, starting fresh and feeling like you and your team, your organization did a good job preparing for what they thought was best for a good setup for the racetrack and going to war.”
“Winning in general you want to do, right? But, Bowman Gray and the history that’s behind it, you look back at some of the names and adding your name to that list of the Cup Series going and winning at Bowman Gray, that’s where NASCAR was pretty much born, so it would be pretty special to go and do that, and what better way than to kick it off here in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. That’s number one is to try and get through this weekend and it’s a great way to really start the season. One of my strengths is certainly short track racing and we’ve made the Clash three out of three years and it would be a great way to get this team up and going. It’s a good opportunity to build momentum.”
Preece is admittedly a bit of a wildcard winner pick for the Cook Out Clash. Experience trumping the rest of the field at Bowman Gray may prove worth its weight in gold, however. Do not be surprised to see the No. 60 Mustang turn heads and potentially take this throwback race triumph.
Drama is sure to be pegged at some point this weekend with the ultra-narrow racing groove at Bowman Gray Stadium. SAFER Barriers taking away part of this preferred line will only force all competitors to find grip anywhere possible. We may even see a tire or two dipped into the grass for a pass. Whoever does stand tall after 200 laps Sunday night will be the first to grace this hallowed winner’s circle in a NASCAR National Series race in 54 years. The Cook Out Clash (Sunday, 8 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) is going to be equal parts a callback to the sport’s founding and a ringing in of the new season.
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credits to Sara D. Davis/Getty Images
