Even though Sunday's Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray wasn't a points-paying event, the race gave us our first real glimpse into how new driver and team pairings will work out in 2025, as a result, the race has impacted the weekly NASCAR Power Rankings.

When NASCAR first announced that it was hauling its high-octane roadshow into the tight confines of the L.A. Memorial Coliseum in 2022, the sport’s purists reacted as if someone had suggested installing a Starbucks inside the Sistine Chapel. The rest of the world watched with morbid curiosity, waiting for the inevitable disaster.

The first race of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Season took place at the Bowman Gray Stadium in North Carolina. This is the first NASCAR race here in over 50 years and it was worth the wait, with the "Madhouse" well and truly living up to its name.