NASCAR insider makes surprising argument against holding Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium

After a remarkably successful weekend at Bowman Gray, a couple NASCAR insiders are making the case that The Clash not go right back there in 2026. The reason is interesting.

First off, there’s precedent for diminished interest over time.

“Everybody’s looked at the LA Coliseum and thought, ‘Man, that first year was so magical, right?'” The Athletic’s Jeff Gluck said on The Teardown podcast. “The second year, it was all right. The third year it was like why did we (do this)?”

Sunday’s race at Bowman Gray might not have been the most compelling of all time, but it was certainly interesting enough.

“The thing is, right now, in this moment, it was a really fun race. Great crowd. As you said, they earned another date,” Gluck said to his cohost, Jordan Bianchi. “But do you bring it back here again next year? Do you give it two chances or do you really just move it every year? I mean what should they do?”

Bianchi offered a pretty measured take on that topic, outlining some potential alternatives that NASCAR could look into for The Clash in the future, if not at Bowman Gray again.

“It really depends on what your viable other options are,” Bianchi said. “If you have an opportunity to go international, you can race in Brazil or something like that, I think you need to explore it. I really, really do. If you can do that viably and it makes economic sense for the teams.

“And that’s the big thing about racing whether it’s Brazil or somewhere else, the teams are going to have to be compensated to some degree on what their expenses are, because that’s not going to be cheap. So if you have a promoter that’s willing to help offset some of the costs, I think you need to explore.”

Bianchi brought up another excellent point about Bowman Gray.

“This isn’t going anywhere. This is going to be here. And the improvements you made are going to continue to be here a year from now, two years, three years from now,” he said. “That’s important to know. So it depends on what your other options are. But if those other options don’t materialize or they aren’t maybe to the degree you want them to, I think it’s OK to bring it back here with the acknowledgement … we’re coming back for the second year but in 2027 we’re going somewhere else. Because I do think you have to worry about the diminishing returns.”

Quality food for thought when it comes to The Clash and Bowman Gray.