Bumps, wrecks, and tempers flaring. The pre-season exhibition race at the Bowman Gray Stadium had it all. Known as ‘The Madhouse’, the quarter-mile oval is quite narrow, making overtaking opportunities hard to come by. As a result, drivers were forced to get their hands dirty to gain track positions, an inevitable reality of a venue that is known to prioritize entertainment over pure racing. Unfortunately for Denny Hamlin, he was on the receiving end of such treatment at the Winston-Salem track.

Despite leading laps, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver was forced to settle for a third-place finish. The 44-year-old was pushed around by Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney, who made a sensational comeback to finish second at the pre-season opener.

Ryan Blaney lauds his car’s performance at Bowman Gray

Ryan Blaney turned back the clock at the Bowman Gray Stadium. The No. 12 Ford Mustang driver made a sensational run at “NASCAR’s longest-running weekly race track“, going from dead-last in 23rd place to second when the checkered flag was waved. The Ohio native has been in incredible form the last few years, winning the championship in 2023 and finishing runner-up the following year, just behind his teammate Joey Logano. Blaney appeared to pick up where he left off at ‘The Madhouse’, after finishing no lower than second in his last three races of 2024.

Recounting his experience of gaining track positions, Ryan Blaney candidly said on the Door Bumper Clear podcast, “I didn’t really have to move guys much really. The only guy I lightly laid the bumper to was the #11 for second. I just kind of got him into one a little like two miles an hour faster than he wanted to go and I was able to turn under him and go. My car was good enough where I could kind of just save tire and go forward. So yeah, I didn’t have to be that aggressive. I feel like our car, besides the #9 was probably the best-looking one out there.”

Denny Hamlin, who has won ‘The Clash’ four times before also impressed at the Bowman Gray. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver kept up with Chase Elliott for the first half of the race and even took the lead for 28 laps on the short track. However, the veteran driver couldn’t keep up with the challenge as the race went by and was ‘bumped’ by Ryan Blaney for the runner-up spot. Blaney could have potentially won the race, had he not suffered from a lack of grip in the right rear during the closing laps.

Despite starting from the back, the Team Penske driver took advantage of strategic restarts to gain track positions but struggled with maintaining tire performance against a lightning-fast Chase Elliott. Even though the 31-year-old managed to close the gap over his Hendrick Motorsports rival towards the end, lack of grip hampered any chance of the racer making a last-ditch effort. He also lost control in Turn 1 with just 10 laps remaining, which added to his woes. However, Blaney can be proud of the outcome, especially after overcoming the odds to finish second.

NASCAR insider hails Blaney’s short-track dominance

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To say that Ryan Blaney was impressive at the Bowman Gray would be an understatement. The Ohio native showed his dominance at the quarter-mile oval by steadily climbing grid positions at a venue where overtaking is notoriously difficult. His dominance on the short track doesn’t come as much of a surprise, as the Team Penske racer also won at Martinsville Speedway in the penultimate race of the 2024 season, which was his second triumph at ‘The Paperclip’ in the last two years.

Complimenting Blaney’s racing prowess, The Athletic’s Jeff Gluck said, “Blaney is like the short-track master at this point. He is just so elite. You just look at the ability he has to get around this place and position his car lap after lap the way he wants to do it. It was really impressive just lap after lap trying to nail that line. Just being able to start from the back like that and drive through the field, that was really something.” 

Ryan Blaney’s performance was the standout of the evening at ‘The Madhouse’. Team Penske really looks to have cracked the code for Next-Gen cars, as three of their drivers, Joey Logano, Austin Cindric, and Blaney, all finished in the top 10 at Bowman Gray. Blaney also thanked his team after the race, saying, “The 12 boys were getting better throughout the weekend.”

The 31-year-old will now shift his attention to the Daytona 500, where he will hope to hit the ground running and secure a victory. Despite spending nearly a decade in the Cup Series as a full-time racer, the Ohio native has not secured a victory at ‘The Great American Race’ yet. However, the 2025 season marks the start of a new campaign for the racer, who will hope to break his winless streak this time around.