The Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium is an annual non-championship pre-season NASCAR Cup Series exhibition event held in February before the season-opening Daytona 500. The event was held each year at Daytona International Speedway from the race's inception in 1979 until 2021, after which it was moved to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in 2022 until 2024, when it was announced the Clash would be moved to Bowman Gray Stadium in 2025. Previously at Daytona, the race, along with the ARCA Menards Series' season-opening Hard Rock Bet 200, served as the kickoff events for Daytona Speedweeks. The event is one of two non-points races on the Cup Series schedule, the other being the NASCAR All-Star Race.
Joseph Riddick "Ricky" Hendrick IV was an American stock car racing driver and partial owner at Hendrick Motorsports, a NASCAR team that his father Rick Hendrick founded. He was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, on April 2, 1980, and began racing in Go Karts at a young age, then the Legends Series at fifteen. He competed in both the Busch Series and Craftsman Truck Series before his death from an airplane accident on October 24, 2004. He was killed with nine other family members and friends during the accident.
Kyle Thomas Busch is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 8 Chevrolet ZL1 for Richard Childress Racing. A highly accomplished racer, Busch is the 2009 NASCAR Nationwide Series champion and a two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, winning titles in 2015 and 2019. He currently ranks 9th on the all-time NASCAR Cup Series wins list and 1st in overall wins between the top three NASCAR divisions. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest drivers of his generation and in NASCAR history, known for his dominance across the sport's three major series. Additionally, Busch briefly held the WWE 24/7 Championship. He is the younger brother of 2004 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series champion Kurt Busch.
Russell Scott Riggs is an American former professional stock car racing driver. He last competed in the No. 92 for RBR Enterprises in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.
Kenneth William Schrader is an American professional racing driver. He currently races on local dirt and asphalt tracks around the country while also competing part-time in the ARCA Menards Series, driving the No. 11 Ford for Fast Track Racing. He previously competed in the NASCAR Cup Series, the NASCAR Xfinity Series, and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, as well as the Superstar Racing Experience. He is a first cousin once removed of fellow NASCAR driver Carl Edwards.
David Louis Blaney is a semi-retired American professional stock car racing driver. Blaney was a successful sprint car driver before he started racing in NASCAR, competing in both the Sprint Cup Series and Nationwide Series. For many years, he was a regular at Super Dirt Week in Syracuse, New York, although he never won that event. He owns Sharon Speedway in Hartford Township, Trumbull County, Ohio. His brother Dale Blaney is a sprint car driver. His son, Ryan Blaney, is the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Champion. Dave was also known as the “Buckeye Bullet”.
Michael Duane Bliss is an American professional stock car racing driver. A journeyman NASCAR competitor and the 2002 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion, he has run in all three national series.
Boris Said III is an American professional racing driver. Said has competed in a variety of disciplines including stock cars, sports cars and touring cars.
Michael Samuel Wallace is an American professional stock car racing driver born in Fenton, Missouri. He is the younger brother of Rusty Wallace, the older brother of Kenny Wallace, and the uncle of Steve Wallace. His daughter, Chrissy Wallace, and son, Matt Wallace, have also competed in racing.
Emil David Reutimann is an American professional stock car racing crew chief and former driver. A native of Zephyrhills, Florida, he has competed in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, NASCAR Nationwide Series, and Camping World Truck Series. In 2004, he won NASCAR Rookie of the Year honors in the Craftsman Truck Series. He is the son of Buzzie Reutimann.
Tracy Lee Hines is an American professional stunt driver. He was the 2000 USAC Silver Crown Champion and 2002 USAC National Sprint Car Champion. He currently does not have a full-time ride in NASCAR as he competes for Tony Stewart Racing in three USAC series.
Boston Reid is an American former stock car racing driver who has previously competed in the NASCAR Busch Series, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, and the United States Auto Club.
Andrew Houston is an American stock car racing spotter and former driver. He is a veteran of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, scoring three wins.
Blake Feese is a second-generation American auto racing driver. He competed in USAC before joining Hendrick Motorsports in 2004 and 2005 as a development driver, racing in ARCA and the NASCAR Busch Series for the team. After being released from that deal, he drove in those two series as well as the NASCAR Truck Series part-time with a number of other teams through 2011.
Kevin Hamlin is an American professional stock car racing driver who has competed in the NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series divisions. He currently is a spotter for Alex Bowman in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Kraig Kinser is an American professional racing driver. He was previously a developmental driver for MB2 Motorsports/Ginn Racing, and while with them, competed in both the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and the ARCA Re/Max Series between 2005 and 2007.
Gerald Robertson is an American former professional stock car racing driver. He competed part-time in NASCAR from 1996 to 2006. He primarily drove for underfunded teams in the Cup, Xfinity and Truck Series as well as in NASCAR's Southwest and Midwest Series, winning twice in the Southwest Series. He is notable for being the first ever driver for Furniture Row Racing, a team based out of Denver that would go on to win multiple races in the NASCAR Cup Series and the 2017 NASCAR Cup Series championship after starting out as an underfunded team in the series.
Erik Louis Darnell is an American professional stock car racing driver. He is the grandson of former USAC and NASCAR driver Bay Darnell, who also started three NASCAR races. Darnell formerly drove for Roush Fenway Racing, joining the team in 2005 after being a co-winner on the Discovery Channel program Roush Racing: Driver X, along with David Ragan.
Steven Portenga is a retired NASCAR driver. He spent more than 2 decades racing in various national and regional support series to NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, and he won the NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Tour championship for late models in 1994 and 1998. Portenga and his wife, Windi, are now car owners of the #21 & #31 cars in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West, where he's also the crew chief for one of those drivers, Alex Schutte.
Shelby Dean Howard IV is an American former professional stock car racing driver.
