Connor Zilisch left concerned for NASCAR fans – Sports News
The Cook Out Clash is scheduled to be held at Bowman Gray Stadium (Image: Getty)
The NASCAR Cup Series season is set to get off to a freezing cold begin on Sunday at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, the place snow may but derail an thrilling weekend of short-track racing, a lot to the priority of Trackhouse Racing’s rookie Connor Zilisch.
The non-points scoring exhibition race, which is held yearly earlier than the season-opening Daytona 500 in Florida, faces an unsure destiny in 2026, with snow having already blanketed the venue.
The quarter-mile asphalt oval is obvious of snow, as of Tuesday early afternoon ET, in line with NASCAR boss Ben Kennedy, who shared a snap of the venue on social media together with the caption, “Snow has been cleared from the track and garage areas at Bowman Gray.
“Hoping for a warm(er) day or two in Winston-Salem to accelerate clean up. We’re continuing to monitor more weather this weekend and will communicate schedule changes, if any.”
Kennedy additionally posted that NASCAR is “monitoring one more snow storm arriving Friday evening / Saturday. Our goal is to host the Clash at Bowman Gray but we’ll communicate schedule changes as we learn more.”
Zilisch lately completed second within the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona (Image: Getty)
Looking forward to the race, assuming it goes forward as scheduled, 19-year-old Zilisch, who received 10 O’Reilly’s Auto Parts Series races in his sole full-time season with JR Motorsports in 2025, advised SiriusXM NASCAR Radio he was “super excited” for the Cook Out Clash.
“Bowman Gray is a unique one for sure. It’s the shortest track we race at. Chaos is certainly the name of the game there, and keeping yourself out of trouble,” he added.
“But the fans there are awesome. They make that place what it is. ‘The Madhouse’ is certainly one of a kind. So I’m excited. I’ve been there as a fan. I’ve never raced there. So I’m looking forward to getting behind the wheel and getting a feel for it.
“I think everyone loves that we get to go there. And it’s not a points race. So at the end of the day, it’s not a huge deal, but it’s still really cool to go kick the year off at a place like that. And, hopefully, it doesn’t snow, and we can still go racing. And we’re not racing on ice and don’t need snow tires.”
Asked what impact the cold temperatures have on the drivers, with the forecast predicting lows of 14 levels Fahrenheit on Sunday night, through The Weather Channel, Zilisch, who lately completed second with Cadillac Whelen on the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, was much less concerned about himself and more about these probably planning to attend.
“It certainly changes a little bit on the track, and in the car, it’s going to be really, really comfortable because usually we’re hot,” he stated. “So when it’s cold and really cold, the car still gets warm, but it’s not hot. So it’ll be nice inside the race car, where all the fans are freezing up in the grandstands.
“But yeah, I don’t honestly know. I’ve never really raced a stock car in sub 30 temperatures. So I’m sure there’s outlap, and just getting your tires up to temp is really important, but I’m sure the track will have a lot of grip, and we’ll be fast once we do get some temperature and all the stuff inside the car and the tires.
“So I’m excited to see what it’s like and just hopefully that the bad weather can hold off and we can go racing.”
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