Ryan Preece overcame snow and rain to win NASCAR’s inaugural race of 2026, the Cook Out Clash exhibition race, on Wednesday at historic Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Winless in 223 career Cup Series races, the RFK Racing Ford driver found the point by passing Shane van Gisbergen with 43 laps left and topped William Byron by 1.752 seconds in the 200-lap event that featured 17 cautions.

Preece, 35, joined Jeff Gordon (1994) and Denny Hamlin (2006) as drivers to win the Clash before recording a Cup victory.

Ryan Blaney, Daniel Suarez and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top five.

After Josh Berry and Austin Cindric raced their way in during the last-chance race and Alex Bowman used a provisional to fill the 23-car field, the Clash, delayed from Sunday night due to snow consuming the Tar Heel State, began with polesitter Kyle Larson up front on the quarter-mile flat track.

Larson’s No. 5 Chevrolet led the first 40 laps until caution flew for debris in Turn 4, which bunched up the field with teammate Byron and Chase Briscoe rounding out the top three drivers one-fifth of the way through the season’s first race.

Bubba Wallace was spun after an accordion effect led to Blaney spinning Wallace’s No. 23 Toyota entering Turn 3.

Off Turn 2 on Lap 72, Byron worked his No. 24 Chevrolet past Larson with Briscoe making the move as well. Soon, van Gisbergen hit Cindric and turned him for the third caution.

Briscoe’s hard charge hit its peak when he raced by Byron on Lap 85 with Ty Gibbs close behind. Blaney entered the top five as his No. 12 Ford came to life.

Gibbs made the right move and led at the 100-lap halftime break, but snow began to fall, creating a red-flag condition as crews put on rain tires to adapt to the moisture.

The wet-weather rubber proved to be a tricky proposition, so the second 100 laps was a mess as cars slid their way to 13 more caution periods.

Briscoe saw Gibbs slip up the track and pounced. Then Hamlin looped his No. 11 Toyota to wipe out Larson among others on the first lap under green after the lengthy red flag.

With Preece’s No. 60 Ford leading and 35 laps left, NASCAR decided teams should be allowed to pit for fuel, and every team came in for fuel and more rain tires as the track was not considered dry.

–Field Level Media

Brendan Gallagher and Josh Anderson each had a goal and two assists as the visiting Montreal Canadiens defeated the Winnipeg Jets 5-1 on Wednesday during the final game for both teams ahead of the Olympic break.

Oliver Kapanen, Lane Hutson and Phillip Danault also scored for the Canadiens, while Noah Dobson picked up two assists. Goalie Samuel Montembeault made 36 saves as Montreal improved to 4-0-1 in the past five games.

Kyle Connor scored the lone goal for Winnipeg, which has just one win in four games (1-2-1). Netminder Connor Hellebuyck stopped 22 shots.

The Jets opened the scoring on a power play 6:07 into the game. Quick puck movement between Mark Scheifele and Vilardi set up Connor for a snap shot from just beyond the crease.

That tally gave Connor his ninth straight season with 25 or more goals.

Montreal tied the game 1-1 with 3:34 remaining in the first period. Hellebuyck stopped Dobson’s initial shot, but the rebound sat loose in the crease and was swept home by Kapanen.

The Canadiens took a 2-1 lead when Anderson went to the front of the net and was left all alone to tip in a long shot from Jayden Struble at 5:28 of the second period.

The Canadiens extended the advantage to 3-1 only 1:16 later, striking off the rush. Anderson sent a long backhand pass to Hutson, who weaved back and forth with the puck and beat Hellebuyck with a quick shot from a tight angle.

Montreal added to its cushion in the third period, as Gallagher converted a neat feed from Kirby Dach with a wrist shot from the side of the net on the power play at 10:57.

With 14 seconds left, Danault scored short-handed into an empty net.

The Jets are off until a Feb. 25 game at Vancouver. The Canadiens resume action the next night, at home against the New York Islanders.

–Field Level Media

Tounde Yessoufou scored a game-high 27 points Wednesday night, and Baylor led nearly wire-to-wire en route to an 86-67 Big 12 Conference rout of visiting Colorado in Waco, Texas.

Yessoufou converted 10-of-16 field-goal tries, including 4 of 7 from the 3-point line, as the Bears (13-9, 3-7) earned their second straight win. Obi Agbim contributed 19 points and six assists, while Cameron Carr added 19 points, eight rebounds and six assists.

Baylor canned 52.8 % of its field-goal attempts and led for all but 1:36. It made 10 of 24 3-pointers and committed just nine turnovers, earning a 15-8 advantage in points off turnovers while winning the rebound battle 32-26.

Jalin Holland scored 12 points for the Buffs (13-10, 3-7), while Barrington Hargress added 11 and Isaiah Johnson netted 10. But Johnson, the team’s leading scorer at 16.5 ppg, made only 3 of 13 attempts from the field.

Poor shooting plagued Colorado all night long as it made only 22 of 55 attempts from the field, including a dismal 8 of 25 in the first half, as it fell behind by 24 points. It also mixed in nine of its 10 turnovers in the opening 20 minutes.

The storyline coming into the game was how the Buffs’ new lineup — coach Tad Boyle started four freshmen for the second straight game — would play in front of a road crowd. When Boyle debuted the lineup Sunday, they rolled to an 87-61 home blowout of TCU.

Things didn’t go quite as well in this one. After Johnson converted a floater to start the scoring, the Bears quickly rattled off a 13-2 run that Agbim fronted with a 3-pointer and a jumper. The margin reached double figures for the first time at the 12:52 mark via Agbim’s second 3-pointer.

It didn’t get much better for Colorado after that. Baylor expanded the margin to 36-16 when Carr drained a 3-pointer and got to halftime with a 45-21 cushion when Isaac Williams drove for a layup off a turnover with two seconds remaining.

–Field Level Media