Bowman Gray Stadium will host the Busch Light Clash next year, but it can hardly be considered a new event.
Sure, many of us weren’t even born yet when the Cup Series last turned a lap at the bullring in central North Carolina back in 1971. So it gives the illusion of a beginning, but it’s actually more of a return.
Not to mention, other NASCAR divisions have seen action on the quarter-mile oval in the more recent past. Drivers who have already raced between the walls of Bowman Gray include Bubba Wallace, Alex Bowman, Corey Lajoie, Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson and Daniel Suarez.
This is nothing new though. Essentially all Cup ‘inaugural’ events aren’t really new to all of the drivers. Every track has hosted some form of racing, often long before the cars and stars of Cup racing come to town.
For example, the first Cup race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway was in 1998. Mark Martin won in a rout for Ford and the newly utilized Taurus. Of the drivers not piloting a racing version of Ford’s flagship sedan, only one (Dale Earnhardt in eighth) finished in the top 14 positions. While the Blue Oval brigade did stink up the show a bit, the first weekend for NASCAR in the desert was seen as a success.
Except for the fact that it was not the first weekend for NASCAR in Las Vegas. I wouldn’t blame you for not knowing that. This was 1998 after all, when not everything was televised and there was no social media to provide updates on the more obscure series. Sure, Cup races would make the sports section, but good luck finding out who won the pole for an upcoming truck race or the results of a modified event.
The NASCAR Cup Series was actually the last to arrive at the party in Sin City. In November 1996, the K&N Pro Series West (now the ARCA Menards Series West) and Craftsman Truck Series held a companion weekend. Cup regular Ken Schrader became the first NASCAR winner by taking the checkered flag in the K&N show. He was followed the next day by truck winner Jack Sprague.
Even the Xfinity Series drivers beat the Cup stars by a year. Jeff Green scored his first Xfinity win in March of 1997 in an unsponsored ride, besting a field that included seven full-time Cup competitors.
Most inaugural Cup races from that era were the culmination of the first race weekend at a facility. Texas Motor Speedway, Auto Club Speedway, Chicagoland Speedway and Kansas Speedway all featured the top level of NASCAR on their debut weekends. Sparkling new was the name of the game, and promoters wanted Cup racing as soon as the paint on the walls had dried.
But that didn’t always happen, and Vegas wasn’t the only track that had to audition for a Cup date by first hosting the lower levels of NASCAR. New Hampshire Motor Speedway held six Xfinity races over its first three years before landing the big show in 1993.
Kentucky Speedway had an even longer wait. The Xfinity drivers were regular visitors for a full decade, serving as the main attraction from 2001 until Cup racing came to town in 2011. The trucks and ARCA had an additional year under their belts, starting on the 1.5 mile oval in 2000.
But no track had to hold out longer for the Cup teams to finally follow their Xfinity and Truck Series counterparts than World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway. In 1997, Elliott Sadler led a field of 42 drivers across the line to win the Xfinity race. By the time Cup showed up to try out the 1.25-mile oval in 2022, all 42 of the participants in that inaugural Xfinity event had retired from NASCAR.
It would seem sometimes that even the tracks have to work their way up to the highest level of stock car racing. Or in the case of Bowman Gray Stadium, work their way back onto the Cup schedule.
Frank Velat has been an avid follower of NASCAR and other motorsports for over 20 years. He brings a blend of passionate fan and objective author to his work. Frank offers unique perspectives that everyone can relate to, remembering the sport's past all the while embracing its future. Follow along with @FrankVelat on Twitter.