“Do you want to see the best of the best actually racing, or do you just want to see million-dollar cars bumping into each other at highway speeds?”
On Wednesday night, NASCAR opened the 2026 season in Winston-Salem, NC. The race was hosted on the 1/4-mile of Bowman Gray Stadium.
There was excitement heading into the race. It was NASCAR’s first look at the new rules package for short tracks. Cars would see an increase to 750hp.
But, a record setting 17 cautions took place over the 200 lap race. The cautions were caused by on-track chaos, snow melt, rain and even sleet.
And, only green flag laps counted. This sent the race more than an hour over the viewing block.
They turned so many caution laps that drivers began to run out of fuel. NASCAR was forced to allow teams back to the pit area for refueling as a result of all the caution laps turned.
Was it a good race? No.
The race had moments that looked good especially after rain tires were installed and the outside lane became the preferred groove. But, overall, it was a crash fest that turned the race into a parking lot.
Former NASCAR driver Jeremy Mayfield wasn’t impressed…
Video highlights and full results from The Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium
Jeremy Mayfield comments
“I’m going to say what a lot of people are thinking but are too scared to voice: Last night was a bad look for the sport,” Mayfield opened via social media.
“These teams spend tens of millions of dollars on engineering, wind tunnel time, and elite technology. Then we take the “top tier” of racing and put them in a stadium to crawl around at 70mph in the sleet and rain?”
“It didn’t look like the best drivers in the world. It looked like guys who had no clue how to drive, sliding around in slow motion. When I was out there, the goal was to showcase speed and horsepower.”
“Now, we’re starting the season with million-dollar bumper cars in a parking lot. It makes the “elite” level of our sport look amateur.”
“Is this really how we want to kick off a season? By throwing away all that engineering just for a ‘spectacle’?”
He concluded, “I’m curious—do you want to see the best of the best actually racing, or do you just want to see million-dollar cars bumping into each other at highway speeds? Let me have it in the comments.”
Jeremy Mayfield details the raid on his house
