Chase Elliott adds to the Bowman Gray history with Nascar Clash Victory

Winston-Salem, NC-Op a track that provokes history, it was two drivers who could send Nascar’s future duel for the lead late in Sunday night’s Cook Out collision.

Chase Elliott, the most popular manager of the sport, each of the past seven years, and his close friend Ryan Blaney, ran 1-2 with less than 25 rounds before Elliott won the first cup race at Bowman Gray Stadium since 1971.

Blaney, who last started in the 23-car field, finished second. Denny Hamlin was third, followed by Joey Logano and Bubba Wallace.

In 1949, Nascar rushed around a football field for the first time on this quarter-mile track. The Wood Brothers achieved their first cup victory on this track. Richard Petty’s 100th Cup victory came here. Bobby Allison won the last cup race here.

“We had some history to live,” Ross Chastain said after his sixth place.

Nascar was in Bowman Gray Stadium – known as the ‘Madhouse’ for his conflicts on and off the track – after opening the previous three seasons in Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, a venue that the Olympics, Super Bowl and have offered and is World Series, is home to the University of South California’s football team.

“I just feel like we’re going to chase on a football field, it’s probably just as good as a place like doing it,” Elliott of Bowman Gray said.

The collision of Sunday had its moments to bump, beat and destroy, but the race has become the last 75 rounds to carefully.

While Blaney Elliott challenged the lead, the two ran clean. Blaney’s car disappeared.

“I think we were quite evenly matched, but when I started going, I just didn’t have enough behind,” Blaney said. “I didn’t intend to make the pace and (I) couldn’t just have Bulldog in him and chased away with Pitchforks here, so when it was time to go, I just didn’t have enough.”

Drivers said the atmosphere was special in a place with about 17,000 and contained fans from 44 states and five countries. Elliott was in the moment when he left his car after winning.

“It was a very special moment and I think the people in the crowd made it,” Elliott said. “A moment I will never forget. ‘

Elliott’s victory completed a weekend that put him the fastest round in qualifying, all 25 laps to win his heat race and lead 171 of 200 rounds to claim the checkered flag in the collision.

The 29-year-old Elliott, who won the 2020 title, has provided many memorable moments to his fans, who have seen Bill Elliott’s son grow over the past decade and are more open to sharing his opinions on the sport’s path.

Elliott asked on Saturday where he wanted to see the collision, saying, ‘I know we test the waters a bit with the (first) City (Cup) race of this year, but I think the right test will go overseas, And I think this race would be a great opportunity to do such a thing … where it wouldn’t be a point of points that is a long way away. I like the idea of ​​using it as a potential hiking stone to grow the sport. “

The 31-year-old Blaney, who won the 2023 Cup title, also likes the idea of ​​turning sites for the collision, which was held at Daytona from 1979-2021 before moving to Los Angeles and Bowman Gray this year .

“It’s a perfect race that you have the chance to move it around and go to different parts of the country and perhaps even outside the US to give another part of an area and a fan something to go to to look – Nascar and Cup cars in general, ”he said.

The future of the event is one of the most important points for a sport that spends this year investigating its play -off system – “I’m not sure if there’s a more important decision we can make in how we crown our champion every year “Elliott said – pointed out to move the championship race to different sites and in 2023 hold his first race on Chicago street and will be in Mexico city in June.

“I think that the leadership group at Nascar has been open for more change for the past three or four years than I think it has probably changed in the previous thirty years before,” Elliott said on Saturday.

“So I think there should be some appreciation for the willingness to go new things. And also, with that, does that mean that all these things will be good? No, it’s not. And I think as long as we are willing to say that some of the things were not good, that’s fine. I think we can move forward and grow from it. “

The weekend the sport returned to its past, but by Sunday night the focus was on the future.