Chase Elliott won the unofficial opener to the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season. Elliott started Sunday night’s Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium on the pole and dominated the race. He drove away from Ryan Blaney over the last 20 laps as just 12 of the 23 cars that started the main event finished on the lead lap.

Bowman Gray Stadium, the longest-running weekly track in racing history, is the site for the Cup Series’ preseason Clash on Sunday night. The legendary quarter-mile track near downtown Winston-Salem — among the smallest venues to host NASCAR races — is set for its first NASCAR race in 54 years.

Ryan Blaney was a little kid the first time he raced at Bowman Gray Stadium and remembers it being the coolest thing he’d ever done in motorsports.