NASCAR has embarked on a season where it hopes to generate some enthusiasm from the roots of the sport.
Racing in the snow wasn’t included in that list.
NASCAR has postponed its preseason exhibition Clash, moving it from Sunday night to Monday afternoon because of snow in North Carolina. The 200-lap exhibition race at the quarter-mile Bowman Gray Stadium — a historic track owned by the city of Winston-Salem that also serves as the football home of Winston-Salem State University — is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET on Monday, Feb. 2.
Practice and qualifying is set for 11 a.m. ET Monday on FS2, with the 75-lap last-chance qualifying race kicking off the coverage on FOX at 4:30 p.m. ET.
Forecasts predict that up to nine inches of snow will fall in the area on Saturday — a part of the country not accustomed to that type of snowfall. After more than an inch had fallen Saturday morning, the league made the decision. FOX Weather forecasts that the snow will end on Saturday night, with temperatures in the 30s on Monday and in the 40s on Tuesday.
There is no minimum temperature needed for NASCAR to conduct the race, but drivers could have concerns about their tires and brakes in the cold. Temperatures will be in the 20s by the time the main event starts Monday.
“We’re going slow enough at Bowman Gray, I don’t think that the cars themselves, the engines, will be too cold or anything like that,” said 23XI Racing driver Tyler Reddick in a media call Thursday. “If we were running a really big race track with that amount of [cold] air, maybe. …. We’ll just kind of see what it does, if the [tires] lay rubber.”
NASCAR has said it is treating this event just like any other race weekend with a weather challenge by racing once it feels it can hold the event. The next on-track activity following the Clash is practice and qualifying on Feb. 11 at Daytona.
“If we do get a bunch of snow and it’s Monday, Tuesday or even goes out further, I think, we’ll be just fine in order to be able to get to Daytona,” said Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell in a media call Friday.
The track surface should be ready by Monday. But can the infrastructure safely handle fans? The stadium seats 17,000 and all the personnel needed to conduct the race will also need access to the facilities. A storm a week earlier had still left many of the city streets — while passable — with icy spots that are now covered with snow.
Most of the teams are also based about an hour away, so the ability of crews to get to the race also would be considered.
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