There were a lot of factors that went into the Wednesday night time slot
The Cookout Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium, originally scheduled for this weekend, and then postponed to Monday is now scheduled to take place on Wednesday night.
A truly historic snowstorm affected the vast majority of North Carolina on Saturday and state resources are required for clean-up before anything can be devoted to the NASCAR Cup Series preseason exhibition event. While most of the attention has been placed on the Winston-Salem area, the Charlotte area where every team is located, was also equally buried in snow over the weekend.
That is the short version behind the second postponement decision over the past three days. The long version is that NASCAR wants to have this event in front of a packed house. Even if it were plausible to have it in an empty stadium, that wasn't something the Sanctioning Body entertained.
NASCAR project manager for the Cookout Clash, Justin Swilling, says the fans are inherent to the culture of Bowman Gray Stadium.
“We explored all scenarios but at the end of the day, we're here for the fans and we want to make sure they are a critical piece,” said Swilling in a Tuesday video conference. “Anytime that anyone comes to the Madhouse for an event, it’s the fans as much as the competitor’s that make it a show.
“So, we explored all scenarios, but at the end of the day, we wanted to give ourselves plenty of time and wanted to give the community plenty of time as well to get over the most recent storms we had.”
Swilling also said that no one from the city or state said the race needed to be on Wednesday but the decision was the result of a collaborative process. It also helps that over-the-air FOX had a TV window for them that night too.
“When we all woke up this morning, we were all on the same page that it was going to take a day or two to get the industry out of the snow they have found themselves in back home in the Charlotte area,” Swilling said. “It’s also going to take a few days to get the Stadium cleared off.
“The city felt that responsibility as well. The state was supportive in saying, ‘you know, it’s not good to have people on the roads right now so try to stay home if you can.’ Hopefully as things warm up over the coming week, we will get to a really good place.”
Despite the second postponement giving NASCAR even more time, work has continued throughout the day and Swilling says 40 dump truck loads of snow and ice have been carried away from the venue over the past 24 hours.
There are still some concerns, however.
What does melt on Sunday will refreeze overnight as temperatures reach 11 degrees on Sunday night and Monday night, respectively. That was another reason to not send people back on roads that will have frozen over after the race had been scheduled to conclude on Monday.
But also, the forecast on Wednesday, despite a high for 43 and a low of 27, does call for more rain and snow. NASCAR does have a wet weather tire compound but would not race in an active storm.
“We’re focused on what is in our control and right now, we feel best suited to get this event in on Wednesday so that is what we are focused on,” Swilling said. “We take things one day and one step at a time and will certainly do our best to have the facility prepared and will do our best between now and then.
“If we are impacted by precipitation or a rain impacted event on Wednesday … we do have the wet weather tires and this event would fall within that jurisdiction. We could run laps in the wet.
“We feel confident in our Wednesday plan and that’s what we are focused on. We’ll take to anything else this week as it comes.”
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Category: General Sports
