NASCAR postpones Clash until Monday due to winter storm

The Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium has been postponed until Monday due to the winter storm Gianna, which is dumping snow across the Southeast.

The activities will begin at 11am ET with practice and qualifying before going into the Last Chance Qualifier at 4:30pm ET. The Cook Out Clash, which will feature 23 drivers, will be held at 6pm ET.

FS2 will broadcast practice and qualifying. The Last Chance Qualifier will be on FOX, as well as the Clash itself.

“I want to continue to stress how incredible a job the entire industry, specifically the entire NASCAR organization, has rallied around ensuring this event goes off as soon as we can get the track cleared of winter weather,” Justin Swilling, NASCAR senior director of marketing services, said. “We have a tremendous amount of equipment here, and we have already started to mobilize that to see how we can best clear the property as soon as the winter weather dissipates, hopefully later this afternoon or into the evening. As soon as that happens, we are going to go to work. We have an incredible staff here that’s helping to manage all of the equipment and helping to prioritize what needs to be taken care of first, vs second, vs third, and I feel very confident in our game plan.

“Mother Nature hasn’t been kind to us at all this week, but one thing it has done for us this time around is make the snow very light, fluffy, and powdery. So, the beautiful thing we tested out this morning is that once the wind dissipates and once the snow stops falling, we can quickly get it moved. We have enough equipment here to get it moved, and after we get it moved, to get areas that are icy or wet, dried. So, we’re working around the clock. Certainly, disappointed that we couldn’t get our Sunday schedule in, but still feel very confident in our ability to act as quickly as we possibly can once this storm rolls through.

“Again, the No. 1 concern is always the safety of our competitors and our fans getting to and from the track. In consulting with the North Carolina Department of Transportation this morning and the city of Winston-Salem, we didn’t feel that a Sunday race schedule was best suited anymore, given what the storm had developed this morning, and it’s the reason for our decision. And we wanted to do our best to try to keep people off the road and let them know sooner than later.”

For fans in attendance, the parking lots will open at 9am and off-site shuttles will begin at 9:30am. The gates at Bowman Gray Stadium will open at 10am.

It is the second year that Bowman Gray Stadium will host the Clash.

The exhibition weekend in Winston-Salem was scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 31 and Sunday, Feb. 1. However, NASCAR initially canceled Saturday activities because the storm was forecast to begin Saturday and continue into Sunday.

The area is forecast to get as much as 4 to 6 inches of snow.