“It’s important to move things around”: Joey Logano makes opinion clear on Bowman Gray Clash return in 2026

After securing a P4 finish in Sunday night’s Cook Out Clash, defending NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano shared his thoughts on whether the exhibition-style Clash event should return to Bowman Gray Stadium in 2026 or move to another new venue. The 2025 Clash being held at Bowman Gray in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, was entertaining.

This was the first NASCAR Cup Series event since 1971 at the Bowman Gray football stadium. The historic Bowman Gray took over from the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, which hosted the Clash the last three years.

In the post-race press conference, Joey Logano believes NASCAR should continue to explore new venues for season-opening exhibition events, and he sees the strategy of adding new tracks as a success for the sport.

Speaking to renowned NASCAR journalist Bob Pockrass about his experience and whether NASCAR Clash should return to Bowman Gray in 2026, Joey Logano said:

"It looks good, the energy is real. It's not like you have this ginormous stadium and you get half or three quarters of it full. It’s standing room only; it's a special feel; it's hard to get the ticket. People want what they can't have, right? In the same breath, I would say it's very important to move things around. We seen the success of our sport moving to new racetracks."

The three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion also pointed out that bringing Clash to new venues every year could reach fans who can’t easily travel to long venues.

“I'm a big fan of going to new places and bringing the racetrack to the fans that don’t typically get to see us, because it’s so hard to for a lot of people to travel a long ways, to see our races. So, going to new places is huge for our sport,” Logano continued.

It will be interesting to see what NASCAR will decide about the venue for the 2026 Clash, whether they give another year of the Clash to Bowman Gray or move somewhere else.

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Joey Logano doesn’t think the appeal of Bowman Gray will fade anytime soon

Team Penske driver admitted that NASCAR has successfully expanded to different racetracks in recent years, which keeps the sport fresh and exciting.

In the aforementioned interview, Logano continued:

“We’ve done that, right? Over the last five, six years, we’ve added new racetracks quite often. So I think that’s successful doing the same thing, eventually gets stale. But I don’t think that’s going to happen here anytime soon.”

Joey Logano started seventh in the main event after finishing second in qualifying heat 3. He finished inside the top 5, driving the #22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford in the 200-lap exhibition-style Clash event.