Ryan Preece outlasted sleet, a wet track and a record number of cautions to win The Clash in near-freezing temperatures at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
The Wednesday night exhibition was the first victory at the top Cup Series level for Preece, who drives a Ford for RFK Racing. The event had originally been scheduled for Sunday but was twice postponed because of snow that blanketed the state.
Preece joins Jeff Gordon and Denny Hamlin as drivers who won The Clash before ever winning a points-paying race. He will now take momentum into Daytona International Speedway for next week's season-opening Daytona 500.
Weather dramatically disrupted the 200-lap event and NASCAR called a break just after the halfway point because it began sleeting over the stadium. NASCAR ordered cars to the pits to put on wet-weather Goodyear tires, and the cars returned to the track with the designated tires, but many drivers complained of visibility issues between the sleet and the glare of the lights.
The cars briefly returned to the pits, the sleet stopped, and they went back to a wet track. But as soon as the race went green, Hamlin slid into pole-sitter Kyle Larson and Kyle Busch was also collected.
From there, it was spin after spin as the race dragged on so long that cars began running out of fuel and past Fox's allotted broadcast window, forcing the remaining 35 laps to be aired on cable. NASCAR allowed the cars to go back to the pits for fuel at the same time coverage left Fox.
The race ranked as one of the coldest in NASCAR history with temperatures hovering around freezing — especially when it began sleeting.
Preece, who has clawed his way through the ranks of NASCAR from a background racing modifieds in the Northeast, was in tears as he celebrated. He's been on NASCAR's national scene since 2013 but is only starting his seventh full season of competition at the Cup level.
