Will probably be extraordinarily chilly in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, this week as NASCAR Cup Collection groups put together for the exhibition Cook dinner Out Conflict at Bowman Grey Stadium to unofficially kick off the 2026 season.
Cup Collection automobiles will hit the monitor for the primary time in 2026 on Jan. 31, a day the place the excessive temperature in Winston-Salem will solely be 25 levels, per AccuWeather. That can drop all the way down to 11 levels Saturday night throughout follow and the warmth races for the Conflict.
On Sunday, the excessive temperature will climb simply above freezing at 34 levels, with temps dropping by the night through the Final Probability Qualifier. The Conflict is at present scheduled for an 8 p.m. ET inexperienced flag on Feb. 1.
How chilly climate might have an effect on automobiles
On Monday, Cup Collection crew chief Rudy Fugle, who calls the photographs for William Byron and the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports crew, went on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio to debate how the chilly temperatures might have an effect on the racing product at Bowman Grey.
“How the engine is tuned goes to be fully completely different,” Fugle stated. “The brakes will undergo that part the place usually, they’d be sizzling all the time at a spot like Bowman Grey. Now, it is going to be very laborious to get the brakes to wish to work.
“They’re going to wish to crack after they do get sizzling. Whenever you come within the pits, they will get chilly very fast. They’ll get sizzling, and as quickly as they cool again down that is horrible for the brakes.”
Tire put on can even be affected by the chilly temperatures, and it might take some time earlier than a layer of rubber is laid down on the floor of the racetrack.
“The optimum floor temp, the underside quantity, {that a} tire actually desires to work at that I have been instructed is about 40 levels for a monitor temp perspective,” Fugle stated. “That’ll be most likely the toughest half, is the tires having any grip. I positively would fear about that.”
For sure, groups will probably be chomping on the bit to get out of the chilly local weather of Winston-Salem and get down the Daytona Seaside to formally begin the season.
