MOORESVILLE, N.C. (Jan. 26, 2026) – Growing up in a racing family in Greensboro, North Carolina, means frequent trips to Bowman Gray Stadium in neighboring Winston-Salem.
For Cody Ware, it began like it does for many – sitting in the grandstands to watch the track’s premier Modified division. Ultimately, it led to Ware sitting behind the wheel of a Modified at Bowman Gray, and then various kinds of racecars across all kinds of tracks. Today, Ware is a fulltime driver in the elite NASCAR Cup Series.
“There’s not another racetrack where I can say that I went from its grandstands to its weekly lineup to the NASCAR Cup Series,” said Ware, who attended Ragsdale High School in the suburb of Jamestown. “Bowman Gray is a part of my racing roots, and now with the Clash, I’m able to go back as a Cup driver. It’s a full-circle moment.”
It makes this weekend’s Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium a homecoming for Ware. The 30-year-old racer is back at “The Madhouse” for the NASCAR Cup Series’ soft opening of its 78th season, with the non-points exhibition race kicking off the longest season in all of sports – a 10-month campaign that concludes Nov. 8 with the championship finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Ware enters his old stomping ground with a new look and feel to his familiar No. 51 from Rick Ware Racing (RWR). It’s now a Chevrolet Camaro powered by an ECR-built R07 engine – a thumping 358 cubic-inch V8 that puts out 750 horsepower. Ware got to sample his updated ride Jan. 13 during a test session at North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway, where RWR’s new technical alliance with Richard Childress Racing (RCR) was on display.
“Having to make the transition from Ford to Chevrolet was a big undertaking for the whole team,” Ware said. “The integration with RCR, their engineers and, really, all of their employees, has been impressive, and the test was another good example. It gave us renewed confidence that the direction we’re heading as a race team is the right one.
“Partnering with Chevrolet was the right choice. Everything from the engine package to the aerodynamics of the new body, there are just so many positives. It’s early, but we feel like it’s already paying dividends.”
Ware will look to cash in those dividends at the Clash. He needs to advance from his heat race into the 200-lap main event. Only 23 cars advance to the feature, meaning of the 38 expected entries, 15 will miss the cut.
A strong qualifying effort earns an up-front starting spot in a driver’s respective heat. That’s important, as passing on the quarter-mile, asphalt oval is a rough-and-tumble affair. A clean racecar has a better chance of finishing among the top-five, the cutoff position in each of the four heats to make the headlining Clash. Those outside the top-five in their respective heat get one final shot to make the race via a 75-lap Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ). Only the top-two finishers in the LCQ go on to compete in the primetime feature.
“You have to be aggressive. If you’re not going to be the person who’s making the aggressive moves, you’re probably going to be the person who’s going to have said moves used on you,” Ware said.
“You have to separate the ties and dynamics and relationships you have off the racetrack. Anyone who goes into Bowman Gray thinking it’s all going to be rainbows and sunshine where everyone’s going to walk away happy, they’re very much living in a fantasy. When you’re on the track, you have no friends, only enemies.”
It’s a race of rivalries at the country’s longest-running weekly racetrack. For Ware, it has included a good-natured sibling rivalry.
“My brother, Carson, in his first time ever in a Modified, won at Bowman Gray. He held off Burt Myers in the feature and won the race,” Ware said.
“So, last year he said to me, ‘If you don’t win this, there’s still only going to be one Ware brother with a win at Bowman Gray.’ You’d think he’d won the Daytona 500 or Indianapolis 500 with how he holds that Bowman Gray win over my head.”
It’s all in good fun, as the Ware brothers support one other in their racing pursuits.
“We both have family history at Bowman Gray,” said the elder Ware. “We’ve both raced Modifieds there, and any opportunity we have to race, we’re beyond grateful for. As my brother gets to race more and more here in 2026 and beyond, I want to be the biggest asset that I can be for him. He supports me every weekend. He’s watching the Cup races, cheering me on and texting me and talking to me after the races. And I do the same for him.”
The Clash weekend begins at 1:15 p.m. EST on Saturday with the Madhouse Classic, the 125-lap Modified race featuring the kind of cars the Ware brothers first raced at Bowman Gray. After the checkered flag drops on the Madhouse Classic, on-track activity for the Cup Series begins with practice at 6:10 p.m. before the heat races start at 8:30 p.m. FloRacing will stream the Madhouse Classic while FS1 will broadcast Cup action. Sunday’s LCQ race goes green at 6 p.m. to set the final lineup for the Cook Out Clash. FOX will broadcast the LCQ, transition to its NASCAR RaceDay studio show at 7:30 p.m., and then cover the Clash, which goes green at 8 p.m. SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will also provide live coverage throughout the event.
About Rick Ware Racing:
Rick Ware has been a motorsports mainstay for more than 40 years. It began at age 6 when the third-generation racer began his driving career and has since spanned four wheels and two wheels on both asphalt and dirt. Competing in the SCCA Trans Am Series and other road-racing divisions led Ware to NASCAR in the early 1980s, where he finished third in his NASCAR debut – the 1983 Warner W. Hodgdon 300 NASCAR Grand American race at Riverside (Calif.) International Raceway. In 1995, Rick Ware Racing was formed, and with wife Lisa by his side, Ware transitioned out of the driver’s seat and into fulltime team ownership. He has since built his eponymous organization into an entity that competes full-time in the elite NASCAR Cup Series while simultaneously campaigning winning teams in the Top Fuel class of the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series, Progressive American Flat Track, FIM World Supercross Championship (WSX) and zMAX CARS Tour.
