Winter came, and is not wanting to go. Over the past few weeks, North Carolina has been caught in the thick of snowstorms. And a similar predicament has affected Bowman Gray Stadium, located in Winston-Salem. So plans of holding the NASCAR Clash race at the 0.25-mile short track are also affected. Repeated announcements of delay have been made, to the point of local officials taking charge of the excitement around the event.

“The NC Dept of Transportation is imploring people to stay off the roads. It will have influence on NASCAR and when the Clash occurs as it will be the one to tell NASCAR when the roads will be suitable for teams/fans,” journalist Bob Pockrass reported on X recently.

This post was in response to a tweet by the North Carolina Department of Transportation. It reported that 750 collisions had already occurred as a result of people not paying heed to travel advisories. State officials later confirmed that crash numbers climbed past 1,000 over the weekend as snowfall continued and visibility worsened across large parts of the state. This comes at a crucial time in NASCAR’s schedule, when fans and drivers are preparing for the Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium. What happens next, however, is no longer a decision NASCAR gets to make.

Governor Josh Stein reiterated that a statewide emergency remained in effect, stressing that road safety — not event timelines — would dictate decision-making through the cleanup phase.

With snow blanketing the Bowman Gray track, NASCAR postponed the Sunday race to Monday. But the details remain in flux, as project manager for the NASCAR Clash, Justin Swilling, said in a media session on Saturday. Although the sport is trying its best to hold the race, its hands will be tied, in part, due to the nature of the situation with the city and the state. Officials confirmed that more than 2,500 NCDOT workers were deployed statewide and thousands of tons of salt had been spread across highways, though secondary roads in harder-hit areas were expected to take days, and in some cases up to a week, to fully clear.

“Certainly we’ve got to stay in lockstep with the city and the state on what they’re most comfortable with,” Swilling said. “Bowman Gray Stadium is a city-owned venue. And currently, I believe, I know we’re under some warnings. I believe we’re under a state of emergency currently. We’ve got to stay in lockstep with the state, so we’ll do everything we can to host fans and have this event go off as planned.”

That dependence has been magnified by the storm’s scale, which delivered record snowfall totals to parts of North Carolina and left emergency services prioritizing interstate travel and critical routes before addressing localized access near venues like Bowman Gray Stadium.

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Clearly, the situation for the NASCAR Clash seems to be very uncertain at present. While the state officials handle the weather-battered event, let’s look back at the sport’s other frigid races.

Another snow biz several decades ago

With the NASCAR Clash postponed to Monday, the sport looks relatively safe. The high will reach 40 degrees Fahrenheit with a low of 19, and no inclement weather is expected. Nevertheless, the 6 PM race could be run in the coldest temperatures in NASCAR history. Lingering concerns around black ice and overnight refreezing, however, remain part of the broader safety assessment as officials monitor conditions through Monday. The coldest Cup Series race recorded in NASCAR has sofar been a Richmond event held on February 25th, 1990.

“It is a bright, beautiful, sunlit day here at Richmond International Raceway. There’s only one problem – it is cold. Frosty the Snowman would want time-and-a-half for this one,” began Ken Squier as he welcomed viewers to the CBS broadcast

36 years ago on that day, it was 31 degrees Fahrenheit at the drop of the green flag, and it only reached a high of 32. In Celsius, that’s a benchmark of between -0.5 °C and 0 °C – exactly where water freezes. Due to the concern around cold tires and a lack of grip, teams had to resort to unusual methods to keep them warm.

Clearly, the 2026 NASCAR Clash will have a precedent to look back upon. For now, let’s wait and see when the exhibition race unfolds.