The NASCAR Cup Series is about to go back to the future.
On Sunday, Feb. 2, the green flag will wave on the 2025 NASCAR season with the running of the Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium.
Before any Next Gen cars hit the track at The Madhouse, let us take a look back at the history of NASCAR’s longest-running weekly racetrack in Winston Salem, N.C.
Named for Bowman Gray Sr., longtime CEO of the RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company, Bowman Gray Stadium opened in 1937, one of many public works projects to help create jobs in the midst of the Great Depression.
While known primarily for auto racing, the first event at Bowman Gray was actually a college football game on Oct. 22, 1938, pitting the Duke Blue Devils against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. Duke snuck past Wake Forest that day by the score of 7-0. Today, the Rams of Winston-Salem State University play their home football games at the stadium.
Auto racing at Bowman Gray began at 1939 with midget cars on the then-dirt quarter-mile oval before it was paved and became an asphalt track in 1947.
The facility then drew the attention of NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. and Alvin Hawkins. The first NASCAR-sanctioned race took place on May 19, 1949, with Fonty Flock taking the checkered flag.
From there, the track saw a significant surge in popularity, leading to an expansion of Bowman Gray from 10,000 seats to its present-day capacity of 17,000.
May 24, 1958, marked the first race at Bowman Gray for NASCAR’s top-tier series, known at the time as the Grand National Series. Bob Welborn led the final 49 laps of the 150-lap race to reach victory lane.
The Cup Series raced 29 times at Bowman Gray from 1958 to 1971, and the list of winners at the track reads like a who’s who of drivers from that era of NASCAR. Richard Petty was a four-time winner there, while his father Lee Petty won the second of two Grand National races at the stadium in 1958.
Several other NASCAR Hall of Famers scored victories at Bowman Gray, including Bobby Allison, Junior Johnson, David Pearson and Glen Wood. Rex White, a 2015 NASCAR Hall of Famer, is the all-time winningest Cup driver at Bowman Gray, taking six checkered flags at the track.
The Cup Series’ final points race at Bowman Gray in 1971 brought us one of the most interesting and controversial finishes in NASCAR history. Allison crossed the finish line first, but he was driving a Ford from the Grand American series, not Grand National. Other drivers, Richard Petty among them, disputed Allison’s victory, and no official winner was recorded.
That all changed over half a century later when on Oct. 23, 2024, NASCAR declared Allison the official winner of that 1971 race. The ruling had significant implications on the Cup Series’ all-time wins list, giving Allison his 85th career win to break a tie with Darrell Waltrip for fourth all time.
“For 53 years, the Myers Brothers Memorial was the only race run by NASCAR that did not have an official winner,” NASCAR CEO Jim France said at the time. “As we began preparations for the upcoming Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium, the topic of the race returned to the forefront. We felt it was the right thing to officially recognize Bobby’s win and honor him as an 85-time NASCAR Cup Series winner. We are grateful for Bobby’s lifetime contributions to NASCAR.”
Two and a half weeks later, on Nov. 9, Allison died at the age of 86.
With that noteworthy event in 1971, the Cup Series put Bowman Gray in the rearview as the sport moved forward into a modern era of growth.
Even without a NASCAR national-touring series race, Bowman Gray continued a boast a vibrant weekly racing scene. The track hosts four different weekly racing series, with season-long points battles in modifieds, sportsman, street stock and stadium.
Ralph Brinkley was the dominant driver at Bowman Gray through the 1970s and ’80s, winning eight of 15 track championships in the modifieds from 1973 to 1987. From there, the torch was passed to Tim Brown and Burt Myers, who have combined for 23 of the past 28 modified championships at The Madhouse since 1996.
Brown and Myers will both be putting their experience at Bowman Gray to the test against the Cup Series’ best when they compete in the Clash this weekend. Brown will be behind the wheel of the No. 15 Ford for Rick Ware Racing, while Myers will pilot the No. 50 Chevrolet for Team Amerivet.
Along with weekly racing, the ARCA Menards Series East ran annually at Bowman Gray Stadium from 2011 to 2015. Among the winners of those races were Matt DiBenedetto and Corey LaJoie, as well as two-time NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion Ben Rhodes.
Several current Cup drivers competing in Sunday’s Clash also participated in those races, including Daniel Suarez, Cole Custer, Justin Haley and past Cup champions Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson.
This Sunday’s Clash is the culmination of a multiyear buildup that started with a tire test for the Next Gen Car on Oct. 11, 2021.
This ignited a renewed interest from NASCAR in the quarter-miler. The sanctioning body took control of operations at the track in March 2024, signing a lease with Winston Salem that runs through 2050.
Five months later, on Aug. 17, 2024, NASCAR announced its move of the Clash to Bowman Gray.
These recent developments show that Bowman Gray is in a good position to continue to thrive as a motorsports venue for years to come. Sunday’s Clash will add another notable chapter to the track’s already illustrious history.
Andrew Stoddard joined Frontstretch in May of 2022 as an iRacing contributor. He is a graduate of Hampden-Sydney College, the University of Richmond, and VCU. He works as an athletic communications specialist at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va.
Did I miss all the front stretch articles of Dale Jr and Jeff Gordons disgust with Nascar over the new Kyle Larson rule for this year !! I read about a paint scheme instead I guess.
I’m shocked Jeff was so vocal about it, considering it helped his driver. Medical reasons should be granted a waiver, suspension or flight delays should not.