Chase Elliott won Sunday night’s Cook Out Clash – flawlessly executing Hendrick’s eighth Clash victory – at the historical Bowman Gray Stadium, with 2023 Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney recovering from last place to a close second.
For the first time since 1971, Bowman Gray hosted a NASCAR race – The Clash – a yearly non-championship exhibition race two weeks before the season opening Daytona 500. Elliott, seven-time winner of NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver award, won from 2023 Cup Series Champion Blaney and veteran rival Denny Hamlin.
Elliott started the 200-lap race from pole position alongside Chris Buescher and broke out an early lead. His progress was halted by a caution on lap 21 for Kyle Busch spinning out at turns three and four. The Richard Childress Racing driver was pushed into a spin by Noah Gragson rebounding off Daniel Suarez.
When racing resumed, Elliott and Buescher led the field through a long green-flag period. Ryan Blaney, who started in last place, moved up over eight positions through the opening laps, showing great long-run speed.
A caution was called on lap 79 when Todd Gilliland pushed William Byron into the wall, causing Byron to ricochet into a spin.
Elliott led 97 laps from the start until Denny Hamlin and Tyler Reddick shuffled past him before the competition caution on lap 100, when Blaney had also broken into the top 10.
Two laps into the next stage of the race, Kyle Larson spun off the front of Austin Cindric, sending him sideways into Shane “SVG” Van Gisbergen and Chase Briscoe in front as they slowed for the corner. Briscoe spun while SVG escaped with minimal damage.
The field restarted again, with Hamlin leading from Elliott and Reddick. Behind the leaders were Carson Hocevar, Christopher Bell and last year’s champion Joey Logano making aggressive use of their bumpers until Hocevar ended up in the turn three wall. According to Hocevar’s spotter, Tyler Green, Logano “shipped” Bell into Hocevar’s #77 car.
With 85 laps to go, the pack restarted again. Bubba Wallace spun Brad Keselowski; the following pack subsequently compressed and forced some cars into their own spins.
The following restart saw Hamlin slide up the track defending against Buescher, leaving the inside lane open for Elliott. In the following laps, Elliott successfully passed him and created a lead, shifting the focus to Ryan Blaney – who started from last and by lap 147 has passed Hamlin for second.
The race finally calmed down with a long green flag run to the finish with Chase Elliott crossing the line first to win by just 1.333 seconds from Blaney.
Speaking to FOX immediately after the race, Elliot said it was “A great way to start the season.
When asked for his thoughts on NASCAR’s long-awaited return to Bowman Gray, he said: “This environment is special and this is a place that has a deep history in NASCAR, I think they deserve this event, truthfully.”
Runner-up Ryan Blaney said, “I’m not going to bulldog into him and get chased out of here with pitchforks.” Blaney jokingly refers to Elliott’s army of fans. Third-place Hamlin said it was “Overall a good day.”
The Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium provided interesting story lines to follow as the NASCAR Cup Series begins with Daytona Speed Week from Friday 14th through Sunday 16th February, preceding “The Great American Race,” the Daytona 500.
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