Ryan Preece persevered through sleet, a slick track, and a record number of cautions to claim victory in The Clash amidst near-freezing temperatures at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
This Wednesday night exhibition marked Preece’s first win at the top Cup Series level, driving a Ford for RFK Racing. Originally scheduled for Sunday, the event faced two postponements due to heavy snow across the state.
Preece now joins the ranks of Jeff Gordon and Denny Hamlin as drivers who triumphed in The Clash prior to winning a points-paying race. He aims to carry this momentum into Daytona International Speedway for the season-opening Daytona 500 next week.
The weather significantly impacted the 200-lap race, leading NASCAR to call a break just past the halfway mark as sleet began to fall over the stadium. NASCAR directed teams to the pits to change to wet-weather Goodyear tires, and while they returned to the track on the designated tires, many drivers voiced concerns about visibility due to the sleet and glare from the lights.
The cars made a brief pit stop once the sleet ceased, returning to a wet track. yet, as soon as the race resumed, Hamlin collided with pole sitter Kyle Larson, collecting Kyle Busch in the process.
What followed was a series of spins, causing the race to extend so long that cars began running low on fuel and surpassed Fox’s allotted broadcast time, resulting in the final 35 laps being aired on cable. NASCAR permitted cars to pit for fuel concurrent with the switch in coverage.
This race is regarded as one of the coldest in NASCAR history, with temperatures hovering around freezing, particularly as the sleet fell.
Preece, who has worked his way up through NASCAR starting from modifieds in the Northeast, was overwhelmed with emotion as he celebrated. although being on NASCAR’s national scene since 2013, he is only entering his seventh full season at the Cup level.
“Two years ago, I thought I was out of a job — I believed I was heading back to Connecticut,” Preece expressed. “I’m super, super, super emotional.”
He participated in only two races in 2022, spent the following two years with Stewart-Haas Racing, but found himself without a seat when that team was disbanded after the 2024 season.
RFK Racing, co-owned by fellow driver Brad Keselowski, picked him up ahead of 2025, and he has been arguably the organization’s top performer.
In 223 starts since 2015, Preece boasts 30 top-10 finishes.
“It’s been a (expletive) long road, and it’s The Clash, but man, it’s just been years and years of grinding,” said Preece, offering thanks to Keselowski.
“This is as much a mental game as anything, and I felt pretty battered,” Preece noted. “A few restarts went our way, and suddenly you find yourself in the first two rows, and then the claws come out.”
William Byron finished in second place, followed by Ryan Blaney and Daniel Suarez in his debut for Spire Motorsports. Hamlin rounded out the top five.
Bowman Gray hosted The Clash for the second consecutive year, having been held at Daytona International Speedway for 43 years from its inception in 1979 through 2021, then transitioning for three seasons to a temporary circuit inside the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
Larson, the reigning Cup Series champion, started on the pole alongside his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Byron, the two-time defending Daytona 500 champion.
Hamlin, after a tumultuous offseason filled with emotional highs and lows, began the race in sixth place, marking his first time in a car since his dramatic loss of the Cup title in November. He disclosed before the race that he reinjured a previously repaired torn labrum, sustained during a slip in the debris from the December house fire that took his father’s life and critically injured his mother.
He shared that he would defer surgery until the end of the upcoming season.
“I don’t think it ever healed properly,” Hamlin reflected. “I took a little tumble at my mom’s house, navigating the debris, and it just didn’t feel right. I had it rescanned and realized I had re-torn it.”
Last chance qualifying
Josh Berry and Austin Cindric secured the final two spots in The Clash by finishing first and second in the last chance qualifying heat.
Berry dominated the heat race in the No. 21 for Wood Brothers Racing, affiliated with Team Penske. Cindric faced a much tougher battle, racing side-by-side with Corey Lajoie for over 15 laps to clinch the second transfer position.
Lajoie served as an injury replacement for Keselowski, co-owner of RFK Racing, who is recuperating from a leg injury sustained in a fall last December. He kept pace with fellow Ford driver Cindric in a Penske entry as the two contested fiercely for second place.
As they approached the finish line, AJ Allmendinger nudged Cindric to try to advance ahead of both him and Lajoie for one of the final spots. This push instead propelled Cindric ahead of Lajoie, securing his place in the 200-lap Clash on the historic short track.
Notable drivers who missed the field for The Clash included Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Todd Gilliland, both of whom spent a day this week clearing snow from the grandstands at Bowman Gray to assist NASCAR in readying the venue.
Up next
Teams will report to Daytona International Speedway next week for the Daytona 500 on Feb. 15. Qualifying for the pole will take place next Wednesday, and the remainder of the field will be determined through a pair of races on Thursday.
