NASCAR insider predicts physical race, anger, hurt feelings at The Clash

Ahead of the 2025 iteration of The Clash for the NASCAR Cup Series, Jordan Bianchi and Jeff Gluck of The Athletic are previewing what should be an awesome event at Bowman Gray Stadium.

After multiple seasons in Los Angeles at The Coliseum, NASCAR will head to a more traditional area, where fans from all over the North Carolina area will flock to Winston Salem to see a historic evening. It should be a wild exhibition to kickoff the 2025 campaign, and Bianchi predicted tempers will flare at the short-track.

“I honestly expect quintessential Bowman Gray,” Bianchi told Gluck, regarding what he’s expecting during The Clash this weekend. “It’s hard to pass there. Really, it’s the low line. The low groove is the way to go. And to make that work, oftentimes you have to move somebody out of the way. I expect that to happen. And this is my opinion. It feels narrower than The Coliseum, which is going to condense it, even a little bit more. It’s going to make it hard to pass.

“You’ve got the wall coming out of Turn Four. Jutes it out a little bit. It’s going to be — I think it’s going to be a slam-bam thing. I think you’re going to see — I think you’re going to have to move people. I think it’s going to be physical. I think it’s going to come down to the last few laps. And the question is, what is somebody going to do to win the race? And in the big picture, does it matter? Is it worth angering everybody to win a race that’s an exhibition and doesn’t count? I don’t know. But I think you’re going to see some fireworks. I really do.

“I don’t know if it’s going to be the level that we’re used to seeing at Bowman Gray, but I do think there’s going to be some hurt feelings afterwards.”

As you can tell, Bianchi makes some salient points regarding the racing we’ll see on Sunday. Whether drivers feel it’s worth creating some enemies for an exhibition race remains to be seen, but when you put NASCAR’s best on the same track and tell them to go race for the win, it’s always going to be contentious.

At least it’s sure to be an entertaining event at Bowman Gray on Sunday. NASCAR is back, and The Clash will serve as the perfect appetizer for another highly-anticipated season in 2025.