NASCAR’S PRESEASON RACE COME HOME Since Bowman Gray is hosting clashes

Tim Brown, 53, finally gets the opportunity to be a NASCAR CUP series driver.

Bowman Gray Stadium is the reason for that. For the first time since 1971, the course will host a NASCAR CUP SERIES race with the Cook Out clash, which takes place on Sunday. It is an annual exhibition event that starts the season, but not all drivers enter the field. The format for this year’s edition has 23 drivers in the main event.

Brown may not be a household name among the Cup series supporters and is likely to be unknown to some who set the clash. At regional level, however, he will go down as one of the biggest to get behind the wheel – definitely at Bowman Gray Stadium. He is the winning driver in the history of the room in the changed department with 101 wins, 12 track championships and 146 poles.

Appropriate enough, Bowman is Gray, where the native of North Carolina debuts, even though it comes 35 years after having hunted the dream.

“I want to be honest with you when I turned around 30 years old, I gave up my lifelong dream of being a cup driver,” Brown said. “Just because I had seen this transition to the place where you either had to be 12 or 13 years old and be signed or you should have big money to pay an owner to let you run, so I had already given up that dream. “

Rick Ware Racing marks the car to Brown. The two are well known because Brown is a Ware employee, one who will be among those who build the car he drives. When the rumors began that Nascar brought the clash to Bowman Gray, Ware and team president Robby Benton immediately told Brown that the goal was to put him in the car.

Brown will not be alone in fulfilling a dream at Bowman Gray. Burt Myers, another 12-time course master and rival of Browns, will also debut in the Cup series and do so with the Team Amerivet.

The two local stars are among a number of reasons why all eyes will be at Bowman Gray Stadium on Sunday. It is already considered a special weekend without a car yet hit the track.

Bowman Gray Stadium is a quarter kilometer race track, one that circles Winston-Salem State University football field with deep roots in Nascar. It is advertised as the first and longest of the series, which dates to 1949, when two of NASCAR’s basic fathers, Bill France Sr. And Alvin Hawkins brought racing to the plant.

Ben Kennedy, great -grandson of France, won a NASCAR regional series ran on the field in 2013. Last year, Kennedy was the one who went to Bowman Gray Stadium to inform the clash that the clash came to the field.

Although Brown and Myers may not be known for fans of NASCAR’s highest level, these supporters will be familiar with many other names with Bowman Gray connections.

A young Richard Childress, now a Nascar Hall of Fame car owner with his Richard Childress Racing operation, worked concussions on the field. Richard Petty recorded his 100th race gain at Bowman Gray in 1969. Junior Johnson, David Pearson, along with Allisons and Earnhardts, all once drove against Bowman Gray.

For the longest time, Nascar was hardly a sport that returned to things it had once moved away. Quest has been to find ways to develop, whether it is by competing in new markets, schedule changes, championship format changes or different versions of the racing car itself. It’s a monumental moment to bring the Cup series back to Bowman Gray Stadium.

“I like that we’re at Bowman Gray’s home,” Team Penske’s Austin Cindrric said. “When I think of the center of Los Angeles, I don’t think of short-track racing. When I think of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, it’s much closer to short-track racing. I think the fan base is very passionate in that place and will definitely appreciate having cups there, maybe more than anywhere else.

Participation will also be noticeable on the race track. During the three years NASCAR spent in Los Angeles at the Coliseum, the entrance list consisted of the 36 charter teams required to take the cross -country trip and compete. Bowman Gray has an input list of 39.

North Carolina is considered NASCAR’s home and how many of its team and drivers are based. Starting the season at home and on a track that is loved by many has a resonance in the industry.

In the three years, the clash was held in LA, Racing was decent but secondary when entertainment took the center of musical acts, celebrities and athletes who appeared. The feeling is set to be different this weekend and it should be because this can be a one-time-in-life experience for some.

“As much as it is an exhibition race, anyone who says they do not want to win at Bowman Gray, lies,” said Ryan Preece of RFK Racing. “Winning in general, you want to do, but Bowman Gray, the story behind it, you look back on some of the names and add your name to the list of the cup series that goes and wins at Bowman Gray. This is here Nascar was largely born, so it would be pretty special to go and do it, and what better way than kick this in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.