WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) — NASCAR has postponed the preseason exhibition race at Bowman Gray Stadium until Monday night because of ice and snow blanketing the Winston-Salem area.
The Clash was supposed to be a two-day event beginning Saturday, with the main event held Sunday evening. NASCAR late last week cut it to a Sunday-only event in anticipation of poor weather, and as snow blanketed the Carolinas on Saturday, NASCAR made the call to run the race Monday.
“Nothing matters more than the safety of our fans, even when the weather doesn’t cooperate,” said Ben Kennedy, NASCAR executive vice president and chief venue & racing innovations officer. “We were ready to fight the weather, and appreciate the collaboration with Winston-Salem and N.C. officials to make the best decision. Our operations team is hard at work for a Monday race.”
The roads around Winston-Salem had not yet totally been cleared from last weekend’s ice storm and then more snow arrived Saturday morning. Forecasts call for as much as 12 inches.
NASCAR said parking lots for fans will open at 9 a.m. Monday, with practice and qualifying scheduled for 11 a.m.
The race is scheduled for 6 p.m. and could possibly be run in the coldest temperatures in NASCAR history.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever competed when it’s that cold, but thankfully for us, we’re inside of a stock car, which is basically like a oven, so that’ll help,” two-time champion Kyle Larson said Saturday. "It’ll feel fine for us inside the car. I wouldn’t be surprised if you still break, you know, somewhat of a sweat in there.
“I feel for the crews and mechanics and fans and NASCAR officials, everybody who’s there outside in the cold. But you know, we love the sport, and we’ll compete in many conditions. I just look forward to the challenge.”
Larson said he never expected The Clash to run Sunday and planned to spend Saturday sledding with his three children.
FILE - Cars race during the Busch Light Clash NASCAR exhibition auto race at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Feb. 3, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, File)
TORONTO (AP) — Members of Canada's Conservative opposition party voted to keep Pierre Poilievre as their leader despite his election loss last year and recent defections.
Poilievre received 87.4% support in a leadership review vote announced early Saturday at the party's convention in Calgary, Alberta.
Poilievre lost the last election to Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberals in April and even his own seat in Parliament, but has since rejoined the House of Commons.
More recently two Conservative lawmakers have defected to the Liberals, leaving Carney's Liberals one seat shy of a majority government and being able to pass any bill without the support of an opposition party.
In a speech to party members before the party vote, Poilievre did not mention U.S. President Donald Trump's name despite the president's ongoing threats to Canada's economy and sovereignty.
Poilievre did talk about supporting Carney's efforts to remove U.S. tariffs and diversify Canada's exports.
“In this dangerous and uncertain world, Canadians must stand united so we can stand on our own two feet. United and strong Canadians will bow before no nation anywhere on earth,” Poilievre said before the party vote.
Until last year Poilievre was seen as a shoo-in to become Canada’s next prime minister and shepherd the Conservatives back into power for the first time in a decade. Then, Trump declared economic war on the U.S. neighbor to the north and even threatened to make Canada the 51st state.
Trump has continued to threaten Canada, which has infuriated Canadians and led to a sharp decline in Canadian visiting the U.S.
Daniel Béland, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal, noted some political commentators and even former Conservative cabinet minister and Alberta premier Jason Kenney are already criticizing Poilievre “for not addressing the US presidential elephant in the room, which is currently such a key issue for so many Canadian voters of various partisan and ideological stripes.”
Béland said Poilievre and his party are facing an uphill battle.
“Many members of the base like him but, as far as the broader Canadian electorate is concerned, he’s much less popular than Mark Carney, who recently shined on the world stage at Davos and has re-centered the Liberal Party of Canada ideologically in ways that even some moderate conservative voters like,” Béland said.
Carney used a high-profile speech last week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland to condemn economic coercion by great powers on smaller countries. The prime minister received widespread praise and attention for his remarks, upstaging Trump at the gathering.
FILE - Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre speaks in the foyer of the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press via AP, File
