Started watching the Cookout Clash festivities around 4:30pm on the local FOX 8 WGHP, and did not watch it all prior to the official start of the NASCAR Cup Series/Cookout Clash part of the program, but I was looking in-and-out, and there were fans in the stands, and the crews over there in Winston-Salem, did a great job of getting the Bowman Gray track/The Madhouse, ready for racing…First race of the new season/new year, and good to see it on local TV…
And we did see it on local TV until there were just 35 laps left to run in the Cookout Clash, and it was like we had our Burger, our Fry, the Chicken Ranch Wrap, but did get the drink to wash it all down…
The race was slowed by weather elements, yellow caution flags, and cars running out of gas; while they cruised aroung the oval track, waiting for the restarts, that would follow the caution flags….
Lots of delays, lots of holdups, lots of slow traffic moving around Bowman Gray Stadium, but all-in-all, a well-executed, and well-run race by the NASCAR officials, considering what they had to work with…All that crazy Winter Weather we all have had endured the past 2 weeks…
The fans there LIVE, sure endured the outside elements, and fans watching on FOX at home were ready to hunker down and watch the conclusion of this NASCAR event…We had come this far over the past two weeks, why not ride this one out…
And we were watching, watching for The Finish, just 35 laps to go, and the FOX pulled the plug…”We take you now to The Masked Singer, with The Fear Factor Show to follow…We direct our NASCAR race viewers to now turn over to FOX Sports 2 or to our FOX Sports APP for the conclsion of this Cookout Clash NASCAR racing event”…
No apologies, no real explanations, NO Nothing…Just high-tailit on over to FOX Sports 2…
So what you going to do, if you don’t have FOX Sports 2, or that crap they call an APP??? Do you go outside of your home, find a quiet spot and hope you can hear the Public Address announcer coming in from over at the Bowman Gray Stadium, in Winston-Salem???
I honestly did not try that previously mentioned suggestion…My plan of attack was to hit the radio station, and see if the Motor Racing Network/MRN was available anywhere around here…Was headed to my car, and on the way to the Quality Mart Conveinence Store on Battleground Avenue, so I hit the car, turned the key, and got her running, and then popped the radio selections on the FM side of frequency choices, and started hunting for the RACE…
First spot on the dial I hit was the old reliable, WAKG 103.3 FM, in Danville, Virginia…No luck there, just some old country music tune, that made you want to huddle up with your hound dog on a cold night…Leaving 103.3, and now going down the dial to 98.1 FM, in Galax, Virginia…Good old WBRF, Blue Ridge Family radio, and home of MRN, The Motor Racing Network….And it was sooooo good, The Race was right there…On 98.1/WBRF, in Galax, Virginia…
Like I will tell you from over the years, I am not a huge NASCAR fan, but with this first race of the new season/new year, and with this race being held on a LOCAL track, here in the Triad, I want to follow this…You want to see how the locals handle things when placed on the National Scene…
Again, the folks over at the Bowman Gray Stadium, in Winston-Salem did a great job…They battled the elements for 2 weeks, and they, “Got It Done”…
But for the FOX Newtwork, and not sure how much involvement the local FOX 8 fixtures had in this decision, but for the FOX Network, they gave up on the local event, and the FOX Network threw in the towel, and FOX just kicked us out of the Race…Man, they threw us out with the trash…
So, what you gonna do, when you can’t find the race on 8, 12, or 2???
Hit the car radio, and turn up 98.1 WBRF, from Galax…They were the last station standing…I caught the last 35 laps of the race with them, first in my car, and then I caught the final few laps on my home radio, as I settled back into the slab…Good finish, with Ryan Preece coming in first, and Lord William Byron was in second….
Glad I was able to get the Race Action on 98.1 FM, but why doesn’t WTQR cover the races like they used to??? WTQR 104.1 FM, that WAS the racin’ station…Then it was on some other local outlets, including WSJS 600 AM…WSJS is supposed to be the Triad’s News, Talk, and Sports station, but I did not hear them giving any special coverage to the race…When I tuned into them on Wedensday afternoon, they were not at track doing any remote race day special coverage…They were at the station, nice and warm, and talking Super Bowl, and Duke-Carolina basketball only…Limited in coverage there, and WSJS and WTOB are right there in Winston-Salem proper, the host city, with local stations, making no effort to cover the local race….
The local TV stations all hit it hard, with solid raceweek coverage from 8, 2, and 12, but for FOX 8 WGHP, they got slapped in the face, just like we did, when the FOX Network dumped us and the Race, and brought in the Masked Singer and the Fear Factor shows…And they may tell us, these were network shows and we had to join them….
We also need to remind the FOX Network, that this was a Network Race, that should have been shown until its completion, and for the other shows, like The Masked Singer, and The Fear Factor Show, show those shows after midnight, and see if anybody really gives a rat’s butt about those programs…
You made the commitment to show the race, so show it from start-to-finish…The Charlotte Race, on Memorial Weekend often runs late, and they stick with that RACE…Why not the Cookout Clash…I will be sure to check my bag next time I go to Cookout, and make sure they didn’t leave anything out…Just like our friends at the FOX Network, Cookout might start giving us the Start to our meal, and not the Finish…
We may have to drive up to Galax, Virginia to get the part of our meal that was left out, and that’s what we had to pretty much do tonight, go to Galax by way of the radio, to get “The Rest of the Race”…
(With our man Paul Harvey IV, in the pits.)
You might also say to so-called sports extremist like me, why doesn’t this Andy dude just subcribe and purchase cable TV, and he would get it all…
Never had cable, don’t need cable, and won’t get cable until I am in the nursing home, and I think it is part of the package when you get in there…Right now, just don’t need it, it gets tough, but have made it solid this far in the sports journey.
I have survived my entire sports life, without any cable TV at all…I always told myself that I don’t need to subscibe to sports outlets, like cable…Why go looking for sports news you have to pay for it, plus you can always find ways to get it for FREE…The radio is FREE, and as for me, that is where I will be…I also see that much of the time, I am writing and making the sports news, so why should I go looking for the sports news, and end up paying for it…
I found it on Wednesday night, and WBRF/98.1 FM in Galax, Virginia was the last station standing, and I was standing with them, and supporting their efforts to bring us, “The Best In Sports Today”…..
(“The Best in Sports Today”, circa Charlie Harville, at the old WFMY TV 2, and at WGHP TV 8.)
Here is how the pros were talking about the shows in the rain, sleet, and snows, from Wednesday night in Winston-Salem, at Bowman Gray Stadium/The Madhouse…..
Ryan Preece wins Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray amid winter weather
from Reid Spencer @ www.nascar.com
Neither rain nor sleet nor snow nor gloom of night could keep Ryan Preece from his appointed rounds at Bowman Gray Stadium.
On wet-weather tires, on a track peppered with a wintry mix during the 100-lap break, Preece navigated the glazed asphalt at the historic quarter-mile track to win the second Cook Out Clash staged in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Historically heavy snow had already forced postponement of the season-opening NASCAR Cup Series exhibition race twice, but for the 35-year-old driver from Berlin, Connecticut, the victory on Wednesday night was well worth the wait.
“I don’t even know what to say,” said Preece, tears in his eyes as he climbed from his car to the cheers of hardy fans who had braved the rain and bone-chilling temperatures. “To be honest with you, it’s been a [freaking] long road.
“It’s The Clash, but, man, it’s been years and years of grinding. … Two years ago, I didn’t think I was going to have a job. I thought I was going back to Connecticut.”
Preece, however, secured a ride in the No. 60 RFK Racing Ford after Stewart-Haas Racing closed its doors at the end of the 2024 season.
On Wednesday night, he led the final 45 laps after taking the top spot on Lap 156, muscling his way past Shane van Gisbergen after a restart four laps earlier.
In a rock ’em, sock ’em free-for-all that featured a Clash-record 17 cautions, Preece pulled away after the final restart on Lap 182 of 200 to beat runner-up William Byron to the finish line by 1.752 seconds.
Preece is the third driver to win The Clash before winning a NASCAR Cup Series points race, joining NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon and Denny Hamlin in that distinction.
The modified star, who started 18th and worked his way forward before and after the halfway break, extended one streak and broke another. He is the ninth straight different driver to win The Clash, but he’s the first to win from outside the first two rows since The Clash went to a quarter-mile format at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in 2022.
Ryan Blaney ran third, followed by Daniel Suárez and Denny Hamlin. Chase Briscoe, Austin Dillon, Chris Buescher, Ross Chastain and Alex Bowman completed the top 10.
They should have just given them some four wheelers or snow mobiles and let them have at it!! Can’t put anything past NASCAR now a days.
Andy, you are one weird-ass old dude, but you’re our weird-ass old dude. Keep shaking your fist at the clouds!
I am still out here trying to listen for that Bowman Gray PA announcer, but can’t quite make out what the heck he is saying….And they did have those wet-weather tires that they switched to…The last 35 laps were not too bad, but I was on the radio….Raised on the Radio….
Old days on the radio, with Bob Montgomery and Charlie Harville at the races….How many of you remember the Racing Roundup Shows, with Charlie Harville, back in the day???
I hate we didn’t get to see the finish of the race. That was a rip.