NASCAR’s season-opening Clash exhibition race at Bowman Gray Stadium will have a similar format to its 2025 debut, featuring four heat races and a last chance qualifier race before the main event.
Action for the Clash kicks off at 6:10 PM EST on January 31 with the event’s three practice sessions. The entire field will be divided amongst these sessions, with each driver’s fastest lap sorting them into their heat race.
The heat race kicks off at 8:30 PM EST on FS1, with the first four fastest drivers of the combined practice session lap times serving as pole sitter for each of the four Heat Races. The fields will be set accordingly, with the fifth through eighth fastest qualifiers serving as outside poles for each of the four races.
Heat Race Format
After these races conclude, the top five from each, 20 drivers in total, will make the Clash, with the bottom five from each, sorted into the Last Chance Qualifying race.
The Last Chance Qualifier, which airs on FOX at 6:00 PM EST the next day (February 1), will see these bottom finishers race for the final two open spots in the Clash field. The top two finishers in the Last Chance Qualifier will make the Clash, with the final 23rd spot going to the highest finisher in Cup Series points from 2025 who did not make the field via the Heat Races or Last Chance Qualifier.
Last Chance Qualifying Race Format
The Cook Out Clash is scheduled to start at 8:00 PM EST on FOX, and will feature a 200-lap race, with a “break” after 100 laps. Much like the Heat Races and LCQ, the clash will not count caution laps towards total laps run, and the race must finish under green flag conditions.
2026 Cook Out Clash Format
Chase Elliott won last year’s Clash after leading an impressive 171 laps. The race did have its fair amount of action, with drivers getting into one another, something that is expected to continue and perhaps increase during the race’s second running at Bowman Gray Stadium.
What’s Happening? Before the 2026 NASCAR season kicks off at Daytona, the stars of the NASCAR Cup Series head to historic…
What do you think about this? Let us know your opinion on Discord or X. Don’t forget that you can also follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.
