WHEN HELL FREEZES OVER – 2025 NASCAR Cook Out Clash At Bowman Gray Stadium

For years we’ve asked the question to fellow stock car racing fans, since Bowman Gray Stadium is the first paved track NASCAR ever ran on and the first NASCAR weekly racing track, do you think the Cup series will ever return to it’s roots and run a race there. And for years we got the same answer from most of those fellow stock car racing fans…”When hell freezes over.” So let it be forever known that 2025 was the coldest year hell as ever seen, and we couldn’t be any happier about that. In a full circle moment we experienced an amazingly historic moment in the world of stock car racing as NASCAR did the right thing and showed to us and the world that it truly does remember where it came from and acknowledged it to the world. For many reasons that we’ll get into at the end of this article, it was a much more significant message and moment than many will realize or ever fully understand. Did it live up to the hype? Well, you’ll get many answers on that depending on who you ask and their perspective on the sport itself. All we can do is give you an up close look at how it all went down, hoping to give you enough information that you can come to your own conclusions. So with that, let’s take a closer look at the 2025 NASCAR Cook Out Clash and the buildup race to that event, the Cook Out Madhouse Classic featuring Bowman Gray Stadium’s longest running division, the Modifieds.

COOK OUT MADHOUSE CLASSIC

Danny Bohn in the # 57 qualifies fastest, but after a redraw, the # 69 of John Holleman IV will start up front. The Fans’ Challenge is in place for this race, giving drivers a chance to go to the rear and make it back up to the top four for a $5,000 grand prize. The race gets off to a wild start as outside pole sitter William “Crab” Smith in the # 99 collides with # 14 Trey Hutchens and ends up in the tire barrier lining the entrance to turn three. This would effectively set the tone for the event as Fans’ Challenge participant # 16 Chris Fleming soon spins to the infield, hindering his chances. Through all of the chaos that would occur, Holleman IV keeps a steady pace and looks to potentially have the race in the bag. That is until a late race restart changes the entire complexion of the event. Holleman IV tries his best to block a late run from Bohn, but they make contact, sending Holleman spinning and collecting # 22 Jonathan Brown. This ultimately opens up the door for a resilient Fleming, who will hold off the # 1 of Burt Myers to score the biggest win of his career along with the $5,000 grand Fans’ Challenge prize. # 10 Dan Speeney comes home third, Holleman IV rallies back for fourth, and # 04 Brandon Ward rounds out the top five.

2025 NASCAR COOK OUT CLASH

The Cook Out Clash festivities began with four heat races to determine the majority of the field. Some predictably wild moments came out of these with the highlights being a run in between # 42 John Hunter Nemechek and # 60 Ryan Preece along with a frustrated # 8 Kyle Busch deciding to push # 7 Justin Haley all the way around the track under caution conditions. In the end, # 9 Chase Elliott, # 17 Chris Buescher, # 11 Denny Hamlin, and # 45 Tyler Reddick left as victors. The only way left to make the field was a 75 lap last chance qualifier, which got the fans on their feet multiple times.

Bowman Gray legend Burt Myers in the # 50 spinning through the grass and pounding the outside turn one wall, Ty Gibbs in the # 54 retaliating against Haley under caution and proceding to get airborne in the process, # 43 Erik Jones spinning out of the lead while he, # 5 Kyle Larson, and # 21 Josh Berry were three wide. I could go on and on about how electrifying the LCQ was. Larson and Berry survived for the transfer positions along with # 12 Ryan Blaney, who made the field on a points provisional. All that remained was the 200 lap main event. Elliott started on pole via his first heat race victory and dominated early, leading the field to the halftime break after a couple of incidents plagued the first half. Once the second half went green, the aggression levels went up. As the field fought tooth and nail behind, Elliott was challenged by Hamlin, who was able to make the formidable outside lane work. Once Hamlin faded, it was time for Blaney, who started dead last, to make his move. Despite multiple challenges on Elliott’s rear bumper, it wasn’t enough to break through as Elliott takes the huge victory in front of a sold out house. Blaney has plenty to be proud of though, as he and Fleming showed that you can indeed come through the field and make passes on this tight quarter mile bullring. Hamlin finishes third, # 22 Joey Logano makes a quiet bid in fourth, and # 23 Bubba Wallace completes the top five.

MY TAKE

Judging by many social media comments, there are many that clearly don’t understand American stock car racing origins, especially that of the premier sanctioning body of NASCAR. But we here at Short Track Report know that there are many more that truly understand. They probably know already what I’m fixing to say here. But to those that claim to understand the sport but who’s comments truly don’t reflect it in any way, I have a message for you. You won’t like it. Probably won’t listen to it. You’re already set in your false illusions of what you think the sport is. But if you listen to our message with an open mind, you’ll start to understand why the 2025 Cook Out Clash was at the least one of the most important messages and actions NASCAR has ever made in it’s 76 years of existence.

We’ll start with this…again. If we’ve said it once we’ve said it a thousand times, but it’s that relevant. If you forget where you came from, you’ll forget where you’re going. Change is inevitable. But if you forget how you got to where you are and what your foundations are built upon, the whole house comes crumbling down. We began to wonder if NASCAR understood this. It was a question we’ve asked many times. But this past weekend NASCAR answered us and we heard it loud and clear. NASCAR does indeed remember! And proving Thomas Wolf wrong, although a different entity than when it left, NASCAR did come home again. Back to the first paved track it ever ran on. Back to the longest running, highest attended weekly stock car racing track in the world. Love it or hate it, Bowman Gray Stadium is the most successful weekly running local short track in the nation. You don’t have to like it, it’s just a fact that truly or factually cannot be disputed. So if you are one of the many speaking out against it, just know, you may think you support the best short track that is not Bowman Gray, but the hard truth is, the numbers just don’t support your argument. Love it or hate it, that is also simply a fact. Don’t get us wrong, we love every short track we cover. They are all more special to us than they’ll ever know. But the truth is that every one of the promoters of those tracks, and the ones that you support over all others, wishes they had the attendance that Bowman Gray Stadium has. Facts, I promise. And it’s been that way since Bowman Gray Stadium’s existence. No one else brings the number of fans on a weekly basis that the Stadium does.

Why is that? Well, if you listen to the haters it’ll be everything negative you can imagine. Just fill in the blank with any bit of nonsense you can imagine. But the truth is that Bowman Gray Stadium racing is the closest to the origins of the sport than there is in all of stock car racing. It’s hasn’t changed much. It represents what NASCAR built itself upon. It’s where the moonshiners and World War 2 veterans came off the dirt with the same mentality they started with from the fields of the south where promoters had to leave the car window cracked with a shotgun in their laps to make the payout. They were thrill seekers with the competitive spirit to prove they were the best. Sure, the car came into play as they made bets on who’s was fastest…but their true quest was to prove THEY were the best. And to prove it, they were willing to go to the very limit. And if you competed against them and weren’t willing to do that, you didn’t make it in that circle. At Bowman Gray when you crossed that gate onto the track, you had better be willing to go to battle. That’s just how it was. For these drivers the car was an extension of themselves, not the other way around. And while it was important to have a great car, the best car was not enough to get it done. The best drivers often did the most with less and refuse to lose was a way of life, not just a motto.

Of course NASCAR raised the bar when it moved to intermediate tracks and further still to superspeedways. But there’s still a reason the cars of today are still full fendered machines and the best still know how to use them. And I would even say that although many think the last win at any cost driver was lost with Dale Earnhardt Sr, I personally saw the same mentality with Ross Chastain’s move to get into the playoffs at Martinsville in 2022. A move that will never be forgotten. A move spurned by a willingness to do whatever it takes. A move that reminded me of the drivers that graced Bowman Gray in the beginning of stock car pavement racing. Drivers like Tim and Fonty Flock. Bob Welborn and Jimmie Lewallen. And of course Glenn Wood. These guys and many more are ingrained in the heart of NASCAR. And while I’ve had to listen to the haters on social media talk about how Bowman Gray isn’t even a real race track, I know the truth. I’ve seen how teams work to compete there. And I know what it means for drivers to put themselves on the track’s hallowed win list. But still I’ve had to bite my lip through every negative social media comment about the place I’ve had to endure as they disrespect the memory of those who gave their all here. Guys like Billy and Bobby Myers, both Bowman Gray NASCAR Modified champions in their own right. Bobby in 1952 and Billy in ’51, ’53, and ’55. Bobby went on to Cup racing losing his life at Darlington in 1957 in a horrifying crash. Billy died of a heart attack on the track at Bowman Gray Stadium just a year later in 1958. Brothers who gave their all to the sport they loved. Forever ingrained in the heart of NASCAR to this day with the Myers Brothers Award given out to recipients for their exceptional contributions to stock car racing.

Bowman Gray Stadium has indeed contributed greatly to the success of the sport itself and it’s premier sanctioning body of NASCAR, and it’s history, no matter how many claim otherwise, is more significant than any other weekly racing short track in the country. It would take a book to cover it all. But two great examples of it are Richard Petty’s 100th win in the Myers Brothers 250 in 1969, and Bobby Allison’s last credited win, the most controversial win in the history of the sport in 1971, also in the Myers Brothers 250. The last Cup race at the Stadium until the return of Cup here in the 2025 Cook Out Clash. A win so controversial that it was not credited officially to Allison until last year, 53 years after the race was run. So, tell me again that Bowman Gray didn’t deserve this race. Tell me again how hurt you were that the Clash came to the Stadium in 2025. Tell me again why it should have never happened or anything else you had negative to say about it. What I hear is that you don’t understand the true history of the sport or it’s significance. And while you do you miss the true message of this race. NASCAR has not forgotten it’s roots. The problem is however that many of the sports so called fans have. I have two words for those fans… Formula One. While I truly respect Formula One and what it is and it’s history, no one can say that it’s similar in any way to stock car racing except it is racing. And while the driver matters, it’s the car that wins the day. In stock car racing, the car can only take you so far, especially on a short track. That’s where it comes down to the will of the driver and his mastery of his machine and his competition. Sometimes you may have to get your hands dirty and show that you refuse to lose. Short track racing is a battle and nothing less. And for us personally, we wouldn’t have it any other way. There’s nothing more exciting than watching gladiators taking each other to the limit to prove they are indeed the best. It’s what stock car racing is all about. Don’t let anyone tell you anything less! Until next time, we’ll See You At The Track!