NASCAR's preseason exhibition is going home. The Clash will return to the Daytona International Speedway oval on Saturday night, 13 February 2027, ending a six-year absence from the track that hosted it for 42 consecutive years.
The race, now titled the Wheatley Vodka Clash after a new multi-year partnership that also names Wheatley American Vodka the Official Vodka of NASCAR, will open Speedweeks eight days before the 69th running of the Daytona 500 on 21 February.
It leaves Bowman Gray Stadium off the Cup Series calendar entirely. The quarter-mile Winston-Salem bullring hosted the Clash in 2025 and 2026, having replaced the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, which held it from 2022 to 2024. This year's edition was postponed twice by heavy snowfall and ran three days late, with Ryan Preece winning.
"The pairing of a fan-favorite event like The Clash with a premier vodka brand in Wheatley American Vodka is the perfect way to welcome home one of NASCAR's most beloved traditions to open Speedweeks Presented by AdventHealth for 2027," said Daytona International Speedway president Frank Kelleher.
"The Wheatley Vodka Clash adds another can't-miss event to an already unforgettable week, creating even more opportunities for our fans to experience the energy and excitement that make Speedweeks so special."
THE DEFENDING WINNER APPROVES
Preece told reporters he is "a fan of Speedweeks", and argued the schedule change helps more than just Daytona.
"Being a purist and loving NASCAR - I'm happy that we end up going early and kind of making it the whole Speedweeks vibe again," Preece said. "Because that doesn't only help Daytona, but I think it also helps the short-track side of things."
His team co-owner Brad Keselowski was more agnostic about the venue and more confident about the outcome.
"From an RFK perspective, we'll race wherever they put the Clash," Keselowski said, adding that the organisation has "a lot of reason to think we'd be successful in either one of the two tracks."
A NINE-DAY SPEEDWEEKS
The move restores something NASCAR has not had since 2016: Cup Series track activity at Daytona stretching beyond a single week to open the season. Daytona 500 qualifying follows on Wednesday 17 February, the Duel qualifying races on Thursday 18 February, the Truck Series on Friday and the O'Reilly Auto Parts and ARCA Menards races on Saturday, before the 500 itself.
The Clash format and eligibility rules have not been announced. That matters more than it sounds. The event began in 1979 as a 20-lap, 50-mile sprint restricted to the previous season's pole winners - NASCAR Hall of Famer Buddy Baker won the first one from a field of nine cars - and the short-track era brought heats, a last-chance qualifier and a full-field main event that the superspeedway layout cannot replicate.
The last oval Clash at Daytona, in 2020, is a cautionary note. Only six cars were still running at the finish, and winner Erik Jones took the flag with significant damage. The 2021 running moved to Daytona's infield road course, won by the late Kyle Busch, before the event left the state entirely.
Daytona also confirmed the rest of its 2027 NASCAR dates, with the Coke Zero Sugar 400 weekend set for 27-28 August. The remainder of the 2027 national-series schedule will be released later.
Before any of that, there is unfinished business this season. The 2026 Coke Zero Sugar 400 on 29 August is the Cup Series regular-season finale and the last chance to race into The Chase. Tyler Reddick, who won this year's Daytona 500 for 23XI Racing and five of the first nine races, has already clinched his place and can become the first driver since Jimmie Johnson in 2013 to win both Daytona points races in the same year.
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