That was a very Bowman Gray night at the races for the NASCAR Cup Series on Saturday night.
Over the course of two practice sessions, a group qualifying session and four heat races, the top-20 starters for the Cook Out Clash have been decided. There are still technically three more starting spots still to be determined between 19 drivers prior to the 200-lap main event on Sunday night.
But first, the day began with a press conference featuring Tim Brown, the 53-year-old winningest driver in the history of the Winston-Salem bullring who is also making his Cup Series debut this weekend for Rick Ware Racing.
He was asked if fighting is a prerequisite for racing at ‘The Stadium.’
“You might as well say yes,” Brown said. “I mean, let’s be real. If you race here for thirty some years, you’re going to fight.”
Those who were here just thirty some hours on Saturday were ready to fight after the heat races that decided whether or not a driver was locked into the main event or having to duel it out on Sunday in a last chance qualifier.
Let’s set the stage for a moment:
There were four heat races, each one featuring 10 drivers, and you had to finish in the top-five to automatically qualify for the 200-lap main event. Everyone who did not accomplish that goal will be one of 19 drivers seeking the final two spots in the 50-lap last chance race.
Kyle Larson is one of those drivers!
With the exception of Ryan Blaney, who knows he has a provisional to fall back on, there is a greater chance than not that having to start the last chance race more than likely means going home.
It’s just math.
There is just going to be so much chaos in the LCQ, which is why there was so much heat race chaos simply to avoid being relegated in the first place, which created the kind of drama associated with Bowman Gray Stadium.
Heat Race 1
Take the first heat race in which Noah Gragson, Justin Haley, Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon and Josh Berry were all just generally peeved with each other. Dillon was also peeved at himself for spinning out due to clipping a storm drainage.
It was just an intense position to be in and they were each in the hornet’s nest.
Afterwards, Berry and Dillon at least had a chance to talk about it and the former called it ‘rough’ out there.
Seven laps in the final heat, AJ Allmedinger squeezed Cole Custer into the wall while racing for the transfer, damaging both of their cars and leaving the two to have a conversation afterwards.
Allmendinger did not comment but Custer did and didn’t mince words.
“Yeah I mean, I’m okay with letting it go just because how much of a mess this really is,” Custer said of racing at Bowman Gray. “But I told him if it happens in the future you know, it’s going to be a major problem, obviously. We’ll see how, we’ll just go on to the next one.”
Preece, Nemechek