The Clash: Weather Update & What's Next

(upbeat music) - Welcome everybody to a special edition of NASCAR's Holler Talk. I am NASCAR's Mike Ford joined as always. Well, I guess not as always, since Amanda was in here last week, but by Amanda Ellis from Meloso from NASCAR, NASCAR.com, NBCSports.com's Nate Ryan, and then a special guest this week, the CD director of marketing services, Justin Swilling. But I guess in this capacity, that title is meaningless, right Justin? What, you're kind of like the, I don't know, Clash president, what's your title this week? - Clash Ketchall, I think would probably be the proper term for it, just whatever comes our way. - Your maintenance? - Yeah, operations, maintenance, marketing, promotions. I even dabble in a little bit of the communications. Space, one our good friend Mr. Matt Humphrey needs assistant. So yeah, just whatever's needed for that, got Flash Abelman Grace Stadium on the guy, I try to help out. - Perfect, perfect. Well, the reason we wanted to spark up this episode, obviously the, if you're listening, you know that Saturday's on track activity has been completely scrapped until Sunday, and it'll be a cup only one day show. So we'll have starting at two o'clock, hopefully practicing qualifying, then a less chance, qualifying race, and then the main event clash. So, and just some particulars about how that, that'll work, it is so it'll be P and Q for two hours, and there'll be groups of cars onto the racetrack, and that less practice, there'll be three practices, that less practice will act as the qualifying session, and so each car will take a time during a four minute period, and their fastest time will be their qualifying time during that four minute period. They can take as many laps as they want in that four minute period. And then the top 20 fastest laps will lock into the clash, and then we'll have an LCQ where the top two finishers will advance into the clash, and then there'll be one extra spot for the highest driver in points from 2025 as the provisional. So a 23 car field, and so that'll be how Sunday works if we get to Sunday. Not that the world's gonna end or anything, but if we race on it, that's going to be what's going to happen, and we'll get to what needs to get, need to happen to race on Sunday with Justin. So I think with all that as the foundation of what we're hoping to happen, let's get with Justin here and find out what has happened. So Justin, if you want to take us through what your week has been like, you're kind of dealing with two different snowstorms. You're dealing with what already happened, and then what is happening. So let's start with what did happen last weekend. Had a pretty significant ice/snow storm in the Carolinas, and you've been kind of literally digging out from that over the past week. So maybe start with Monday and talk about what happened and over the past five days to try to get the facility ready. - Yeah, for sure. It's certainly been a whirlwind the past four or five days. Most of the clash operations team started to make their way to Winston-Salem actually late last week. So around this time last week before the first of two, what I would call biblical winter storms of this, for this area, started to make its way in. We kind of got the facility as prepped as we possibly could. Huge thanks to the city of Winston-Salem. A lot of people think that NASCAR owns Boma Gray Stadium, but Boma Gray Stadium's owned by the city of Winston-Salem. And we're just a lease tenant there, right? We just raise cars there, and we sanction the events there. So they were great to work with and helping to mobilize as many resources as the rest of the city had to try to get the facility to the best place we could and then on, I guess it was sometime around Saturday and the last Sunday, just started to have a tremendous amount of buildup of ice and snow and wintery mix, right? And I'll be honest with you, it's not worth being out and that is it's happening, right? 'Cause you're just, you're fighting an uphill battle that you'll never win, right? So it's best just to kind of sit tight, assess where you are when the storm passes, and that's what we did on Monday. And man, I cannot think the operations team enough, like Matt Brannock, who's the vice president of facility operations for the Mid-Atlantic region, he has Richmond to look after, he has Darlington, he has Martin'sville, and now Boma Gray Stadium with the clash, he mobilized in his team, mobilized so many different pieces of equipment and resources either before Monday or on Monday, once we saw what we had, from all the different tracks from everywhere, and it was all about, hey, while the sun is hitting any surface where there may be melting ice, let's push it out of the way and let's pile it up, right? And that's what we started doing. And when you look at a NASCAR event, this is the second year I've been in this role, this is the first time with the clash that I've been in any sort of track leadership role, right? The first thing you gotta make sure you have is a race track to race on, right? So we worried about the racing surface, and we worried about the football field within the racing surface. And then we quickly also moved to the Boma and Gray Stadium Field House parking lot, which that parking lot serves as the Cup Series garage. So we gotta have a place for competitors to park, we gotta have a place for competitors to race, that's what we focused on. And then we started moving around to different parts of the facility, and we've just been slowly chipping away at it, but what's hurt us more than anything in this past week, maybe hurts not the right term, what's been the most challenging is everything re-freezes, right? I mean, we're talking about record lows that, typically it's cold in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, as it is anywhere in the mid-Atlantic at this time of the year, but this is cold. I mean, this is rigid cold, and to see the ice challenges and the re-freeze challenges that we've had have certainly been a challenge for us. And then when we started to look at the race weekends forecast itself on top of what we're dealing with, it just made sense out of an abundance of caution to go ahead and pause and postpone efforts that were planned for Saturday, and let's focus on Sunday, and let's focus on making that happen. So all of those assets and even more from the different race tracks around the region have been mobilized here to help us with cleaning off what was left behind last weekend, are standing by for this weekend too, and we're determined now more than ever. I'm not gonna let Mother Nature defeat us, and I feel very confident in saying Matt Brandick and the rest of the team there that are focused on getting that place cleaned up, we're not gonna be defeated by this. And come, you know, hell or high snow, we're gonna be racing, so. - I wanna pick up their Justin. So obviously the forecast is pretty grim for Friday night into Saturday, and then it looks like it's gonna clear by Saturday afternoon. So what's the next step here? As we record this on Friday, January 30th, the afternoon of Friday, January 30th. Is the next step then Saturday morning, once the snow falls has occurred, you guys will reassess and figure out where things stand for Sunday? - Yeah, I mean, I think the beautiful thing about this forecast, if there is such a beautiful thing about, you know, a few inches of snow being predicted is that, you know, the great thing is, this is gonna be fluffy snow that's probably gonna be fairly easy to move. So we feel like, we feel more confident that we can work in this than we would have been able to in last week's storm. So we're actually not gonna wait for this storm to leave. We're gonna be working during the storm to keep important surfaces, the track surface, the football field, the garage area, and parking lots surrounding that we've already cleared off from last week's storm. We're gonna keep working in the storm. So the plan right now is literally, if 5 a.m. Saturday morning, we're gonna get started on moving, what's been left in the four or five hours, that, you know, snow may have been falling, you know, from midnight and Friday into Saturday morning, and we're gonna keep working all the way through Sunday. So, you know, we've got a lot of work to do, and, you know, the whole team's here and we're mobilized and ready to roll, and we'll stay at it until we got the place clear and we can host an event. - So the plan is as soon as things are clear, whether that's Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, not trying to like play worst case scenario here, but as soon as things are clear, just like a rain date, NASCAR will raise things in the rain. - Okay, that's exactly right. Yeah, we're gonna race as soon as that place is ready to roll. We felt like the timing we came out with on Sunday was a best-case scenario and what we're certainly hoping for, and then if Mother Nature's meaner to us, we'll adjust accordingly and we'll, as soon as we can drop the hammer, we're gonna do it. - And then one more for me, and I think Amanda's got one for you, Justin, you mentioned that the city, obviously is instrumental in the operation of Bowman Grace Stadium and have a big say, how much will that impact what NASCAR can do in terms of racing Sunday? If there's some sort of state of emergency, or the city says, hey, how does that play into your guys' call? - Yeah, well, first and foremost, again, they've been great partners in trying to clean up Bowman Grace from what was left behind and they also have been tremendous and I'm actually currently at the Clash Preview event, Clash Preview events, a new event that the city of Winston-Salem helped us to host at the fairgrounds, which we were really excited about. But they're a critical piece to every single part of this event and we've got to continue to work with them on a few fronts. They leave the racing to us and they leave the track preparation and the garage preparation of the facility to us, but in terms of hosting fans, in terms of allowing fans to be able to come to the surrounding area, they're mission critical in that because they have to make sure that they feel their resources aren't tapped or oversaturated to have this event. So, I mean, every step of the way to this point, they've been in lockstep with us and they'll have to continue to be, we have a call later today with the city to continue to keep the informed of our plan, which I'm going over with you guys now. And we'll also have calls with them throughout the day tomorrow and into Sunday morning as we need to as well to make sure that we're race fans and we're racers and we wanna race, but we have to be prudent, we have to be responsible for both our competitors that are coming to the track and also the fans. So, we wanna make sure that whatever scenario we come up with between NASCAR, the city's on board too. - Justin, just to provide some additional context to the fans that listen to Haller Talk or even to our media friends who listen to Haller Talk who help us get this message out to the fans is just some of the behind the scenes preparation that the team's been doing this week. Obviously, we've had daily calls and meetings that several of us have been on. And that's just one meeting that's happening. There are multiple meetings, as you mentioned, with the city of Winston-Salem. But also just the help that we are receiving from some of our sister tracks and then our friends at Speedway Motorsports. Everyone's trying to really put in all the effort to get the clash happening on Sunday. And so, do you mind just to share some of those behind the scenes details on how we're getting equipment from different places to make sure that we have everything we need to be as efficient as we can be? - I know, without a doubt, I mean, I think every track in this greater region, we've sent them notes and made calls to take inventory of, do you have a tractor with a scooper on the front of it? Do you have a back hoe we could use? Do you have a jet dryer that can make its way down here, right? Do you have additional staff to run all of that equipment that you're helping bring? We've been having calls on calls with different, track operators across the region and they've been more than accommodating and helping us. And really, it's just about getting everything here and getting everyone here that can help operate that stuff. And at the end of the day, what we need to make sure of is that, again, we have a racetrack that is capable of putting on a race and is capable of housing competitors. And then we want to also focus on trying to have fans there and have an incredible experience as well, but we're all focused on safety. So ever since late last week and into early this week, we've been getting the meteorology updates every morning and afternoon of last week's storm, last week in storm and then the upcoming weekend storm. And we've been working closely with competition and our broadcast partners to make sure that we understand. They understand the challenges we're faced with from a facility standpoint that we understand the challenges they're faced with from a broadcast and a competition execution standpoint. And in addition to that, we're working with a city on hosting fans at their facility and their venues. So it's just constant dialogue. And certainly, I'm not gonna lie, trying to keep everybody on the same page. That's tough, right? And decisions are made quickly and we're doing our best to keep everyone on the same page as we can, but we're dealing with something that is a bit out of the ordinary for everybody. So it's just all hands on deck and it's really great to see the whole team come together and just rally behind it. Great examples we're having a clash preview this afternoon. We were gonna move the cars immediately after the clash preview and get them loaded up onto their haulers that are here at the fairgrounds in Winston-Salem. And we're gonna move into Bowman Grace Stadium. We're early this week, you know, around the decision of, you know, postponing Saturday. We can't have the cars staying in the haulers overnight because of the rigid low temperatures, right? Everything will freeze up. So what we decided to do and we're going to the cities, we're gonna keep the race cars that are currently here at the clash preview that are gonna be racing at the clash. We're gonna keep them in the fairgrounds events center for the next few nights. And we're gonna keep them warm and taking care of and we're gonna have to be working around the haulers and keep in the snow plow and all that stuff. So, I mean, it's, you know, there's no part of this event in the preparation that has been easy, but everybody's been pulling in the same direction and that's what matters most. - And Justin, this might be a question more for Brad Moran, ask our Cups who he's managing director. But you mentioned the cars at the fairgrounds and the haulers. Do you know yet? And this might be contingent on how much snow we get. But when do they, when do the haulers leave to go to the racetrack? Would that be tomorrow night? Would that be Sunday morning? What's the plan there? - Yeah, with our current schedule, it'll certainly, it won't be before Sunday morning, you know, around eight or nine o'clock. Hopefully they'll be able to depart from the fairgrounds to Bowman Grey Stadium. But yeah, that's all dependent and the city, you know, knows too that, you know, if we're not able to stick to our advertised current Sunday times that we may have to continue to keep the cars and the haulers here. So, you know, everybody's been working together really well. And right now the plan is to hopefully, you know, have the Bowman Grey Stadium and the surrounding, you know, property that needs to be able to hold the competitors and all their equipment, as well as the roads between there and the fairgrounds to have those clear enough to where we can, we can make progress down first thing Sunday morning and let, well, you know, hit the track and get race and hopefully. - Outstanding. And so not a question for Justin, but I'll end it with a question of some of the rumors you've heard Justin, I'll talk a little bit about some of the competition side before we get into it. But if there's anything that you wanted to spell after I'm finished here, Justin, please do. But, and the rumors, you know, this, when people start seeing the forecasts and saw what happened in the Carolinas the last weekend, there's just, it's human nature to say, "All right, well, what is NASCAR going to do?" And so just wanted to talk a little bit about this and you may have heard from John Probes. He was on Series XM NASCAR radio earlier today, like Justin said, we're taping the Sun on Friday afternoon. One of the questions I wanted to just bring up was, why aren't we racing? Can we pivot to move to Daytona? And the answer there is no. And the reason being is really the engine package is the largest part of it and kind of how the schedule sets up in general. So for racing on the Daytona oval, the super speedway track, that would, it's a different engine in the cars right now. So there'd be a lot of prep work that went into the Bowman Grey Stadium engine and that is a 750 horsepower, whereas the, the obviously the super speedway package would be ready for the Daytona 500 plus. We opened up the season with two consecutive super speedway engines, so the inventory is already dedicated to both the race at Daytona and the race at Echo Park Speedway. So that is answer number one, two is could we have raised on the road course at Daytona? That is also problematic because already there's preparations being made as the track gets flipped from the Rolex 24 to speed weeks where infield parking is largely or partially on that road course. So that wouldn't be available to us either. Part two is, you know, there were some rumors that it would be, that we maybe run it the Saturday of the Super Bowl weekend. So this coming Saturday, or I guess a week from tomorrow, which would be what February 6th, 7th, February 7th, that would also be tough because there are a number of logistical problems we have the following Wednesday, a qualifying session for the Daytona 500. So Bushlight pull qualifying is happening Wednesday evening, broadcast trucks, other haulers for time and scoring. Those all need to start hitting the road to Daytona later this week or later next week, I should say. So having a full blown cup race at Bowman Grace Stadium would also be difficult and maybe not even difficult, impossible if you want to have a broadcast of the Daytona 500 qualifying session, which of course we do. So those two rumors understand how they kind of got swirling around and it might have been on the table at a certain point, but pretty quickly dismissed because of those challenges. Justin, anything else you want to clear up for our fans and listeners? No, I mean, I think you covered it really well. You know, the only thing I would add is, you know, as the sanctioning body of events at NASCAR, it's our responsibility to think through every scenario that might be plausible, feasible, and best for the competitors and the fans, right? So to say that one scenario or another was not on the table or was on the table, you know, I think that's crazy because we have to think through all those scenarios, right? But when you think about the situation that we're in and when you think about this rigid, cold wintery weather that the entire Eastern seaboard is experiencing, right? Like, yeah, if, you know, we could have explored moving to Daytona, right? It's still rigid, cold there, right? You know, we're still going to be dealing with some challenges there in addition to what you talked about, you know, Mike, from a competition perspective. So, you know, I think that a lot of scenarios were considered, but we've tried to stay prudent and we've tried to stay responsible and we've tried to keep the fan top of mind as well as, you know, keep the competitor top of mind in making sure that we can deliver the best product for them, the competitors and for our fans and for the broadcast partners, too. That's what we're really focused on. And we feel like we're in the best spot we can be. It's funny you mentioned that, Justin. I'm glad you brought that up. I don't know if it's, it's irony, but it's kind of interesting that you look at the green flag weather for Sunday night in Daytona Beach and it is scheduled to be 38 degrees, which a with a windshield windshield much colder than that. So, no matter where we raise, we're going to, yeah, we're going to be, we'd be in a challenging spot. But I know we're going to fight, fight the weather. And like you said, Justin will be hopefully under a green flag on Sunday night, if not Monday, if not Monday, Tuesday. And we'll get this going and get the 2026 season kicked off in a big way. So pretty excited for that. Justin, good luck. Thank you for your leadership this week. And hopefully you, we won't have a major snowfall this week. But if we do, we know that we'll get ahead of it. So appreciate the time, Justin, and good luck this weekend. Thanks so much, guys. Appreciate you having me on. Thanks for all you guys do tune in on Sunday. We're going to be there. It's going to happen. Let's make it happen. Heck yeah, Fox, big Fox. Do it. See you, Justin. So Ford, one quick clarification, I believe you said, heck yeah. I think you're now allowed to say, hell yeah, as you did. The first hauler talk episode of the season. So definitely just need to get out of the way. But I do have a few more questions about the competition side of the clash. And I want to start with, when the release came out, announcing the Saturday schedule changes, it referred to qualifying practice and the heat races being postponed. Now, we know from the new schedule for Sunday that qualifying and practice are taking place Sunday. But there was no mention of the heat races. I've since seen and heard John Probe said this on the morning drive on Series XM Nascar this morning that the heat races are canceled. So can you provide some clarity on that? I know at the top you kind of discussed how the qualifying process will work. How will it work without heat races and just to confirm that the heat races have been canceled? Yes, the heat races have been canceled. So the field right now will be set by the qualifying times. So how it'll work, mention this at the front part, but here are the actual rules that we sent to the teams where, for words. So for practice, the field will be split into three groups. Each group will have two eight minute practice sessions. Then that third practice for the final and third practice will be the qualifying session for each group. That group will be split into two groups. So essentially six groups, but for each group split into two groups and that that group will be running four minute, four minute P and Q session. And really it's a qualifying session. And why that is the case. We want to have fewer cars on the racetrack so that they can have a clean lap for qualifying. So that's why they split each group into its own two groups. So that before minutes, your fastest final practice qualifying time will determine your qualifying time. You may run as many laps as desired in the four minute time window. All cars in each final practice qualifying group must be spread out and run a fast lap. Final practice and qualifying results will determine the lineup for the clash. So like I said, the top 20 in that qualifying session will advance into the clash. Then we'll have the last chance qualifier, the starting labs for that will be set by qualifying times. The top two finishers in that LCQ race will also move on to the clash. And then one final spot is reserved for the highest driver in 2025 points. And that's driver points, not owner points. So really the only driver, there's only one driver that's guaranteed to run in the clash. And that's Kyle Larson, the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series champion. If he makes it into the show, be a qualifying, then I'll go down to second place, third, fourth, and so on. So that's kind of how Sunday we hope we'll shake out. And then kind of put a bow on the lineup forward and how you guys are determining this through qualifying. And of course, then there's the last chance qualifier as well that I believe determines the final three slots in the field. So do you have a sense of how many total cars are trying to make the clash? How many will be in that last chance qualifier? And how many essentially will be eliminated from the main event, which we know will have 23 cars? Yes, so there are 38 entries in this event. So do the mass of 20 advance through qualifying. So there'll be 18 cars in that last chance qualifier. Two will move on, and then you have the provisional. So in all, there'll be 23 starting positions, 23 entries, 23 cars in the clash, and then 15 will go home. So like I said, one other loose end to tie up. We did have inspection, as Justin talked about, we had an inspection section yesterday. So Thursday evening at the fairgrounds in Winston Salem, all clear. So we had 33 of the 38 cars pass on their first attempt through inspection, and then the five remaining all pass on their second attempt. So no multiple failures. And so we'll have no, no kinds of penalties or rejections or anything like that, which is kind of nice to start the season. So hopefully that continues on as we go there. But 38 entries, 23 in the clash, 15 bill is the numbers that you need to know. All right, thank you for joining us for another episode of Power Talk. We are now two episodes in season two. A big thank you for listening and an important update on this weekend's event at Bowman Gray. As always, thanks for listening, and we look forward to talking with you again soon. (upbeat music)