NASCAR Cup Collection groups will converge on Winston-Salem, North Carolina, for a season-opening exhibition race at Bowman Grey Stadium.
The Conflict serves as a possibility for groups to get again within the saddle and race for a trophy and a test earlier than the season formally kicks off at Daytona two weeks later.
However the total race weekend on the 0.25-mile bullring might be fairly atypical so far as an ordinary NASCAR weekend goes. On Wednesday, Cup Collection crew chief Blake Harris, who calls the pictures for driver Alex Bowman and the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports group, talked with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio about how the weekend differs from others.
“The Conflict is a bit of bit [of] a bizarre occasion for us,” Harris stated. “We’ll tech [inspection] someplace off-site. It is a bit of bit totally different [of] a routine than what we often see.
“That entire weekend, we’re sharing haulers with a teammate. There’s actually no regular circulation from what I bear in mind it felt like final yr. You experience up within the van within the morning with the blokes and experience again; we do not sometimes get to do this.”
Conflict format stays the identical
The Conflict might not really feel like a standard race weekend, however the format for the exhibition occasion will keep the identical because it was in 2025.
There might be 4 25-lap warmth races on Jan. 31, with the beginning lineups for these being decided by every driver’s quickest lap in ultimate apply earlier that night. The highest-five drivers in every of the 4 warmth races will earn a spot within the Feb. 1 200-lap primary occasion, from which 23 drivers will qualify.
The remaining three spots might be taken up by the top-two finishers within the Feb. 1 last-chance qualifier race, with the ultimate spot being given to the motive force highest within the 2025 driver standings. That locks defending Cup Collection champion Kyle Larson into the Conflict itself no matter his efficiency in his warmth race or the LCQ.
Quotes supplied by SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
