NASCAR legend Mark Martin is calling on fans to have a more positive reaction to “the good things” in NASCAR, following a somewhat controversial running of NASCAR’s Clash.
Wednesday Night, NASCAR kicked off its 2026 season with the annual running of the Cook Out Clash.
Though the event has seen many iterations and changes throughout the years, last night was unique, as frigid conditions and precipitation in the area created a chaotic race with 17 total cautions.
Now, that number of cautions may not seem like a lot for a 200-lap, or 50-mile, race on a .25-mile oval. However, NASCAR’s stipulation that only green flag laps count towards the lap total, and other issues such as sleet fall and fuel levels, resulted in a race that lasted well over three hours.
While some fans celebrated Preece’s victory, others claimed that this event was a good enough reason for NASCAR to kick the race out of Bowman Gray and back to Daytona International Speedway.
Even though this move would be another traditional addition to the NASCAR calendar, one NASCAR Hall of Famer, known for his reputation of hearing the fans out and supporting similar changes in NASCAR, is calling on fans to enjoy the moment.
In a post to social media Thursday Morning, NASCAR legend Mark Martin said, “I saw so much negative and mean comments last night and today. I think we all need to be grateful for the good things and maybe try being kind. Or maybe not comment.”
This take may seem odd from Martin, who, over the past year, has served as the poster boy for supporting the sentiments of fans online.
Martin didn’t stop there, going on to call out a specific comment, while also agreeing with some fans on where NASCAR could have improved on last night’s Clash.
While Martin and NASCAR fans both have a point, the flaws and the positives of last night’s race can’t be overlooked.
Drivers took the green flag at roughly 6:14 PM, and the checkered flag fell at roughly 9:33 PM, meaning this race was longer than some points races from the 2025 season.
Despite the cautions, fans were treated to some solid battles, a good showing from NASCAR’s slight horsepower increase, and an underdog winner in Ryan Preece.
Still, for many fans, the positives did not outweigh the dragging nature of the exhibition race, which was eventually kicked off FOX’s national network to FS2 for the Masked Singer.
Is this enough to move the race to a new venue?
That’s for NASCAR to decide; next year’s speedweeks are already reshuffled due to the Super Bowl’s new spot on presidents day weekend, meaning the sport would have to find the right balance of primetime and being front and center.
That being said, an expanded Speedweeks would always be a welcome sight for race fans.
Regardless of how this weekend went down, the blame can’t fall entirely on NASCAR or even Bowman Gray Stadium, as, had they cancelled the event again due to winter weather, they probably would have faced a flat-out cancellation as opposed to a simple rescheduling.
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