NASCAR’s Clash rescheduled to Wednesday following record snowfall

WINSTON, SALEM, N.C. — A bomb cyclone impacting North Carolina has compelled NASCAR to reschedule its preseason exhibition to Wednesday night, as the snow-covered roads pose significant risks for teams and fans attempting to reach the historic Bowman-Gray Stadium.

The Clash was initially set to take place on Sunday night but has now been postponed twice, necessitating a schedule change due to the heavy snowfall that has enveloped the region. NASCAR first modified the event into a one-day, Sunday-only format, then rescheduled it for Monday.

NASCAR announced on Sunday that the event would be moved to Wednesday evening “due to the effects of unprecedented winter weather across the North Carolina area.”

The race is now slated to occur one week prior to the qualifying events for the Daytona 500, which will take place at Daytona International Speedway, where The Clash was hosted from 1979 until 2022.

The Clash transitioned to a temporary venue at the Los Angeles Memorial Stadium for three seasons before returning to its traditional roots at Bowman Gray last year.

The inaugural year was successful, but the second edition has been disrupted by the bomb cyclone, which meteorologists describe as a powerful, rapidly intensifying weather phenomenon. It has resulted in nearly a foot (30 centimeters) of snow in and around Charlotte, North Carolina’s largest city and the primary base for most NASCAR teams.

The snowfall ranks among the top five snow events in Charlotte’s history, according to Peter Mullinax, a meteorologist with the weather prediction center in College Park, Maryland.

Source: espn.com