NASCAR insiders predict winner of The Clash, conflicted result

This weekend is the NASCAR Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium. There are a few favorites ahead of practice and the heat races. Before we see any cars on the track, it is hard to tell who will prevail on the quarter-mile bullring.

In the last three seasons, Joey Logano, Martin Truex Jr., and Denny Hamlin have won the Clash. Those wins were also on a quarter-mile track at the LA Coliseum. While the same size, these two race tracks are different in many ways.

Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic talked about their favorites for the weekend. There were familiar names mentioned between the two on The Teardown.

“I mean you can make a case for a dozen different guys, honestly,” Bianchi said. “So, I’m just going to go with Joey Logano just because the record of [winning on new tracks]. He won at the Coliseum the first [year] – Did he not win the first race at the Coliseum, Jeff? The answer’s yes. So, yeah, why not? He’s good at short tracks. There’s maybe a little bit of comparison to Martinsville, he’s good at Martinsville. So like, a Blaney type would be good here, too. Honestly, I could make a case for a dozen different guys, I’m going to pick the defending champ who is good and whose crew chief is really good at figuring out different venues.”

Jeff Gluck interjected with his own thoughts. He likes the Gibbs cars…or he did when he first started making his point.

“Well, to me, this could be another situation where you do see a Gibbs car.” Gluck explained. “Maybe they’re onto something with the Briscoe thing, I don’t know. Because, think about this, right? Martin Truex Jr. was coming off a winless season and then he won at the Clash and it was like, oh it’s going to be all good again. Then the next year, was it the very next year that Denny Hamlin won? … Yeah, there’s only been three LA Clashes.

“So, I guess Gibbs has won the last two, right? So, maybe they’re thinking, okay. Even though I would agree that, you know, Blaney, Blaney at Martinsville has become unbeatable in their short track program. Pretty good. You know what I might be talking myself out of it, you know what I am talking myself out of it. I’m picking Blaney, I’m picking Blaney.”

Are Team Penske and Joe Gibbs Racing going to take another Clash win? Or will someone from Hendrick Motorsports get involved? Then again there are the Bowman Gray ringers, Tim Brown and Burt Myers.

The NASCAR Clash is going to be a fun weekend. Bowman Gray gets the spotlight that it deserves. Buckle up, NASCAR action coming soon.