Burt Myers has spent decades turning Bowman Gray Stadium into his personal playground, and now that short-track mastery is about to collide with the brightest lights in stock car racing. The local legend is set to jump into the NASCAR Cup Series spotlight at the preseason Clash, trading his familiar weekly-warrior grind for a one-night showcase against the sport’s biggest names. It is a rare moment when a grassroots icon gets to test himself on a national stage without leaving the bullring that made him famous.
The Bowman Gray master steps back into the Cup spotlight
For fans who have watched Burt Myers carve up Bowman Gray Stadium for years, seeing him step into a NASCAR Cup Series car at the preseason exhibition feels less like a comeback and more like overdue recognition. Earlier this year, reporting confirmed that the Bowman Gray Stadium legend is returning to the Cup Series stage next month, a reminder that his short-track skill set still carries weight even as the series evolves. At age 50, he is not a prospect chasing a first break, he is a veteran racer finally getting a chance to bring his home-track craft into a modern Cup garage that increasingly values short-track specialists.
What makes this return especially compelling is how directly it connects the sport’s top level to its grassroots core. Myers has long been synonymous with the Winston-Salem bullring, where his aggressive but calculated style has made him a fan favorite and a lightning rod in equal measure. The confirmation that the Bowman Gray Stadium legend will run in the NASCAR Cup Series preseason Clash came through detailed coverage of his upcoming program, which framed his entry as part nostalgia play and part competitive gamble, with the driver himself acknowledging how long he has waited for this kind of opportunity in the Cup Series.
Why the Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray is the perfect stage
The setting could not be more fitting. The preseason event, officially known as the Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium, is scheduled as Race 1 of 2 in the exhibition slate that opens the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season. Instead of a neutral venue or a purpose-built stadium track, the series is dropping its stars into the same tight quarter-mile where Myers has built his reputation, turning the Clash into a home game for one of the most accomplished short-track racers in the region. The format and location ensure that this is not just another warmup race, it is a direct test of how a local ace stacks up when the Cup field comes to his turf.
That context matters, because the Cook Out Clash is more than a novelty stop on the calendar, it is a deliberate attempt to lean into the sport’s short-track roots. By choosing Bowman Gray Stadium as the host, NASCAR is signaling that bullring-style racing still has a place in a schedule dominated by intermediate ovals and superspeedways. For Myers, the chance to compete in a Cup car at the same facility where he has collected championships and countless feature wins is a career-defining alignment of time and place, one that the official Cook Out Clash race details underline by listing Bowman Gray Stadium as the centerpiece of the season-opening showcase.
Team AmeriVet’s rare Cup return and the open-car squeeze
Myers is not making this leap alone. His entry is tied to Team AmeriVet, a NASCAR Cup operation that has been largely absent from the series in recent years and is now plotting a selective return built around this short-track showcase. Reporting on the program notes that Burt Myers and Team AmeriVet are set for a 2026 NASCAR return, with the organization choosing the Clash rather than the Daytona 500 as its reentry point. That decision says a lot about where the team believes it can be most competitive, prioritizing a track that plays to its driver’s strengths instead of chasing the prestige and unpredictability of a superspeedway lottery.
The competitive landscape Myers is stepping into is no charity invite either. Coverage of the entry list has highlighted that there are expected to be seven open cars fighting for only a limited number of transfer spots into the main event, which means Team AmeriVet will have to beat several well-funded part-time efforts just to make the show. In that context, the partnership looks less like a ceremonial hometown nod and more like a calculated attempt to exploit a niche, with a short-track specialist and a returning Team AmeriVet betting that track familiarity can offset any equipment deficit in a crowded open-field battle.
A local hero, a familiar number, and a national audience
For those who have followed Myers beyond the Bowman Gray grandstands, his Cup appearance is also a nod to a long, grinding career in stock cars. William Burton Myers, identified in official records as an American professional stock car racing driver, has spent his prime years competing full-time in regional modified tours while stacking up track championships at his home stadium. That résumé has made him a fixture in short-track circles even as the national spotlight focused on younger drivers climbing the traditional development ladder. The Clash entry effectively bridges that gap, giving a veteran who has already proven himself at Bowman Gray Stadium a chance to show the broader audience what local fans have known for years.
There is also a layer of continuity in how this program is being put together. Myers is set to reprise his role with the same organization that backed him in a previous Clash effort, with Team AmeriVet once again fielding the car for the Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium. Reporting on the deal emphasizes that the team is bringing back a local track hero specifically for this event, framing the effort as both a competitive play and a community-driven project that aligns with the group’s charitable work away from the track. That blend of local loyalty and national ambition is central to the narrative, and it is captured clearly in the announcement that Team AmeriVet will once again pair with Burt Myers for the Clash.
What Burt Myers’ Clash run means for short-track lifers
As someone who has watched short-track veterans grind for decades with little more than local glory to show for it, I see Myers’ Clash entry as a small but meaningful recalibration of who gets access to the Cup spotlight. His path has never followed the tidy pipeline from late models to national series; instead, he has built a career on weekly shows, regional tours, and a deep connection to one specific stadium. Official records list William Burton Myers as a multi-time champion at Bowman Gray Stadium, a detail that underscores how thoroughly he has mastered that environment and why his presence in a Cup car there feels earned rather than gifted. When a driver with that profile gets a shot in a national exhibition, it sends a quiet signal that there is still room in modern NASCAR for lifers who built their reputations one Saturday night at a time.
There is also a practical lesson in how this opportunity came together. Myers is not parachuting into an unfamiliar car or a random venue; he is stepping into a NASCAR Cup Series preseason Clash at the same Bowman Gray Stadium where he has spent years refining his craft, and he is doing it with a team that has already invested in his story. Coverage of his upcoming run notes that the Bowman Gray Stadium legend will be back in a Cup Series entry next month at age 50, running a program that pairs his local expertise with a returning partner and a familiar number in the field. That alignment of driver, track, and team, detailed in the reporting on his NASCAR return, is exactly what gives this story its resonance for every short-track racer who has ever wondered whether their home-track dominance might one day translate to the sport’s biggest stage.
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