Ryan Blaney was a little kid the first time he raced at Bowman Gray Stadium and remembers it being the coolest thing he’d ever done in motorsports.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Bumping, beating and banging were the headliners Saturday night, along with Chase Elliott, in the return of the NASCAR Cup Series to Bowman Gray Stadium for the first time since 1971. Elliott won the first of four heat races on the quarter-mile track and will start Sunday night’s Cook Out Clash from the pole.

In what surreal, alternate reality does former Cup Series champion Kyle Larson race alongside 12-time track champ Tim Brown at Bowman Gray Stadium? In what dream state would brothers Austin and Ty Dillon race bumper-to-bumper at the same arena where their grandfather,