In hindsight, the Cookout Clash could have been run on Tuesday but when the decision was made on Sunday to run the preseason exhibition on Wednesday, there were so many variables for numerous decision-makers to sort through.
It’s objectively true that the snowstorm that passed through North Carolina was one of the five most impactful in the history of the state. In Winston-Salem, where the track is located, nearly a foot of snow was recorded.
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Even more complicated is that nearly a foot was recorded in the greater Charlotte area where most Cup Series teams are located. For those Charlotte to make their way to Winston-Salem, they would have to pass through parts of the state that received over a foot to nearly two feet of frozen precipitation.
So sure, when looking at the area around Bowman Gray Stadium, it looks like the race could have been contested on Tuesday and project manager Justin Swilling stood by the Wednesday decision when asked during a press conference.
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“It’s a great question but I just think it’s out of an abundance of caution,” Swilling said in response to a question from Motorsport.com. “It was the prudent and responsible thing to do because Winston-Salem very rarely gets a winter storm, much less two back-to-back, of this magnitude.
“We just wanted to make sure the community had the time they needed to get the ice and snowfall out of their neighborhoods, residential streets, and be able to travel safely. Yeah, we could have potentially run it today but we wanted to give ourselves the time to do it right. We felt Wednesday was the best option for that and wanted to try to avoid more postponements if we scheduled it for Tuesday and had to push it again to Wednesday.”
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The next challenge for Swilling and all of those around him is another storm set to arrive on Tuesday night as rain and then potentially produce around half an inch of snow into Wednesday.
If NASCAR needs it, Goodyear has brought the wet weather tires, which can be used in a light drizzle or after a storm, but not in an active rain where windshield spray would impact visibility.
“We’ll continue to discuss with our competition team, but this is an event and venue that is within our wet weather tire policy so we’ll be ready to race no matter what Mother Nature throws at us,” Swilling said. “Based on the initial forecasts, it’s very light to mild conditions. And we can race in those tomorrow.”
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Swilling urged fans to dress for cold weather and for light precipitation and urged anyone in the region to come out. Like last year, the Clash will feature an electric pre-race show with the lights and sounds.
“We still got a killer pre-race ceremony,” Swilling said. “None of that was affected moving it from Sunday. The light show and pageantry, everything from the pyro to driver intros on the frontstretch, and we have a really cool plan for emcee and host for that, I think it will be really cool.
“If I were a fan, I wouldn’t want to miss out.”
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