Ryan Preece Racing Photo
NASCAR Wire Reports – Ryan Preece charged to win the Cook Out Clash in a wet Wednesday night feature at Bowman-Gray Stadium impacted by winter weather.
Preece wheeled his No. 60 RFK Racing Ford to the lead for good at Lap 156 despite being collected in multiple earlier incidents. The Connecticut native ultimately led 46 of 200 laps in an event filled with contact as 23 of NASCAR’s best navigated challenging conditions that led to a Clash-record 17 cautions.
Ty Gibbs led at the scheduled halfway break at Lap 100, a stoppage that was extended for another batch of rare winter weather in North Carolina that dropped sleet over the track. That precipitation — which followed historic snowfall in the area that postponed the event from Sunday to Wednesday — necessitated a change to Goodyear’s wet-weather tires.
The event resumed at Lap 101 as Briscoe charged past Gibbs on the outside, but conditions on the initial restart proved treacherous early. Denny Hamlin slid sideways on the slick surface and into polesitter Kyle Larson, spinning Larson backwards into the Turn 4 SAFER barrier while Preece spun behind them.
Issues continued as drivers struggled to find grip on the historic 0.25-mile racetrack. Josh Berry, who advanced to The Clash as winner of the Last Chance Qualifier, then slid into the outside SAFER barrier and suffered a right-front wheel issue to bring out the caution at Lap 119. Two laps after the ensuing restart, Austin Cindric — who also advanced from the LCQ — slid sideways for the second time Wednesday and clogged the track in front of Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney and Larson.
Denny Hamlin later spun at Lap 139 when attempting to pass Alex Bowman in Turn 4, with Austin Dillon spinning off Hamlin’s front bumper in Turns 1 and 2 on the subsequent restart at Lap 140.
Carson Hocevar flexed his way to the front of the field in the wet conditions, surging to lead 18 laps. But a spin by Ty Gibbs in Turn 1 at Lap 144 put the No. 54 Toyota directly in front of Hocevar’s No. 77 Chevrolet. The contact tore off the front end of Hocevar’s car, sending Hocevar to the rear of the field after the melee.
He later went around again at Lap 181 after contact from Bubba Wallace, who sent him spinning down the frontstretch and into Turn 1 after the two traded paint in the proceeding lap.
Road-course ace Shane van Gisbergen worked his way forward in the wet weather and led twice for 15 laps but contact from Chase Briscoe sent SVG around in Turn 3 and collected SVG’s Trackhouse Racing rookie teammate Connor Zilisch late in the event.
The first caution for the incident came when all was still dry at Lap 54 when Wallace was sent spinning in Turn 3 after a chain reaction behind him. Blaney was directly behind Wallace and appeared to lift early to fall in behind Wallace, but Blaney was bumped into by Ross Chastain, who was bumped by Joey Logano. Wallace took the worst of it by spinning out and heading to the pits, losing position from mid-pack.
DRIVERS IN THE TOP TEN FINISH
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Ryan Preece
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William Byron
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Ryan Blaney
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Daniel Suárez
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Denny Hamlin
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Chase Briscoe
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Austin Dillon
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Chris Buescher
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Ross Chastain
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Alex Bowman