2025 Clash to be held at Bowman Gray Stadium

The NASCAR Cup Series is set to make its return to Bowman Gray Stadium next year, revisiting a historic short track that played a crucial role in the sport’s history for the season-opening Clash exhibition race.

NASCAR’s executive vice president and chief of venue and racing innovation, Ben Kennedy, made the announcement. This venue has deep roots in NASCAR history, originally promoted by Kennedy’s great-grandfather, NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. Earlier this year, NASCAR took over the management of the municipal stadium’s racing operations from the Hawkins family, marking the beginning of a new era for NASCAR’s longest-running weekly track.

The non-points event is scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025, and will be broadcast live on FOX. For the past three seasons, the Clash has taken place at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on a temporary quarter-mile track, designed to replicate Bowman Gray’s flat asphalt surrounding its football field. The stadium served as a testing ground for NASCAR’s Next Gen car on such a track, with a Goodyear tire test and feasibility study conducted in the months leading up to the inaugural Clash in LA. To celebrate the return to Bowman Gray, NASCAR Studios and FOX Sports Films are producing a one-hour documentary titled The Madhouse: NASCAR’s Return to Bowman Gray Stadium, which will premiere on FS1. The film will delve into the rich and vibrant history of the venue while narrating the preparations for the 2025 Clash. Further details on the documentary, including its FS1 air date, will be announced at a later time.

“We’re going back to The Madhouse in Bowman Gray Stadium,” Kennedy stated. “Bringing our Cup Series back there for the first time since the 1970s, it’s going to be another historic event. I’d say in a lot of ways, this is going to be an opportunity to celebrate our roots, our history, and our NASCAR regional series.”

Bowman Gray Stadium hosted Cup Series points events from 1958–71, with a winner’s list that reads like a who’s who of NASCAR Hall of Famers, including Richard and Lee Petty, David Pearson, Junior Johnson, Bobby Allison, Glen Wood, and Rex White. Several current Cup Series drivers, such as Kyle Larson and Bubba Wallace, have competed there in what is now known as the ARCA Menards Series East. In 2013, Kennedy himself enjoyed a memorable victory at the stadium with his family.

Bowman Gray Stadium has always held a special place in the hearts of the France family. The track has hosted weekly NASCAR events since the 1949 season, the same year the NASCAR Cup Series was launched as the Strictly Stock division. Former NASCAR president Bill France Jr. met his future wife, Betty Jane Zachary, at the stadium in 1957. NASCAR executives Jim France and Lesa France Kennedy were present in 2013 to celebrate Ben Kennedy’s win at the quarter-mile oval.

The Clash was introduced in 1979 as a non-points invitational at Daytona International Speedway for the Cup Series’ pole winners from the previous season. The event has evolved through the years but served as the unofficial stock-car kickoff to Daytona’s Speedweeks up until the first Los Angeles event in 2022.

“This is the next evolution of The Clash for us,” Kennedy said. “One of the areas where we feel like there’s an opportunity for us to continue to switch it up and go to new markets and new venues is an exhibition race like The Clash.”