Cup Series return to Bowman Gray 'special in so many ways' says Kennedy
Yesterday at 11:47 AM
Ben Kennedy had heard plenty about Bowman Gray Stadium and, like many others, enjoyed the 2010 History Channel docuseries. But it wasn't until he competed in the ARCA Menards East Series and Bowman Gray was added to the schedule that NASCAR’s Executive Vice President and Chief Venue & Racing Innovations Officer finally understood its significance for many, including his own family.
Kennedy ran three races at Bowman Gray Stadium between 2011 and ’13. He won the 2013 event.
"I think walking into that place, you could just sense and feel everything that had transpired at that track before," Kennedy told RACER. "The history of Richard Petty winning races and Fonty Flock and my great-grandfather growing up around there and hearing Jim tell a lot of stories about when he was growing up at Bowman Gray. And seeing his brother and his parents there.
"I think you sense a lot of those feelings without hearing them when you go to Bowman Gray for the first time. But then you get to hear a lot of those stories from family members, and I think that really helps make it more concrete."
To this day, Kennedy has a picture of his Bowman Gray triumph in his office. He calls it perhaps the biggest win of his career. His mother, Lesa France Kennedy, and his uncle, Jim France, were in attendance that night to add to what made it special.
The NASCAR Cup Series returns to Bowman Gray Stadium this weekend for the Cook Out Clash. It will be the first time Cup Series cars have competed at the track since 1971, and Kennedy was among several NASCAR executives who made it happen. The timing came together nicely with NASCAR taking over the lease of Bowman Gray Stadium last year as discussions were ongoing about the future location of the Clash.
Kennedy saw Bowman Gray as a chance for something new at a historic place. He personally delivered the news to the Bowman Gray crowd in August when it was made official.
"I think it's a big deal… certainly around the history and being able to speak to NASCAR Regional, but this is our biggest and most predominant series," Kennedy said. "And we say this every year, that this sets the stage for the 2025 season. … We'll have 15,000 people there on Sunday from five different countries and almost 45 different states, and the spotlight of the racing world will be on Bowman Gray.
"I think that is so special in so many ways. This is the longest-standing NASCAR-sanctioned weekly track that we have — we've had Modified races, ARCA East, and late model races — and for so many years, there has always been the unknown of if the national series is going to come back. Even though this is going back to our roots, in a lot of ways, it's also unprecedented, too."
Sunday night at Bowman Gray, to Kennedy, should speak to core NASCAR fans and the fans who grew up around the sport. Bowman Gray is known for having generations of families attend races, and it's a passionate fan base. To prepare for Cup Series racing, a new Musco light system, SAFER barriers and a new catch fence were installed.
"It is going to feel like traditional Bowman Gray, and that has been paramount to us as we put these plans together," Kennedy said. "(That's) really keeping the stadium feel intact, keeping the audio they'll hear intact, but then also making it feel big with a Cup race and what NASCAR is today. I think it's going to be a good blend between the two."
Kennedy hopes the Cup Series drivers will put on a good show Sunday night. There will be 23 drivers who make the main event, and there is an opportunity for two of Bowman Gray's local stars and rivals to be among them. Tim Brown is making his Cup Series debut with Rick Ware Racing and Burt Myers will do the same with Team AmeriVet.
But what Kennedy really hopes for is Bowman Gray to feel like any other Saturday night.
"We talk about what makes Bowman Gray special and it's for sure the racing product and everything that happens (within those) walls," Kennedy said. "It is the stadium, it is the fieldhouse, but I think more than anything, it's the fans. I went there the first year and sat in the stands, it was 9am on practice day, and there was a family of four who sat right behind me and they could have sat anywhere in that entire stadium, but they sat behind me. I asked if I could help them and they said they were waiting for me to stand up so they could sit where their family had sat for the past 25 years. There are so many stories like that of second- and third-generation people who are going to Bowman Gray to this day and sitting exactly where their parents and grandparents sat.
"I think we have so many of those stories, and we'll have a lot of those fans there Sunday. To me, that's what makes Bowman Gray so special and what success would look like in having that same energy Sunday night."
