WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — NASCAR returned to its roots with a fight-free preseason exhibition at Bowman Gray Stadium and a popular victory with Chase Elliott winning The Clash on Sunday night.

Elliott won his heat Saturday night to start from the pole and essentially dominate on the quarter-mile track where NASCAR’s Cup Series last raced in 1971.

NASCAR’s reigning most popular driver won The Clash for the first time in his career and joined his father, Bill, as winners of the unofficial season-opener. Bill Elliott won The Clash in 1987 and then parlayed that victory into a win in the Daytona 500 one week later.

Chase Elliott gets his chance to repeat his father’s dominance when NASCAR’s season officially opens Feb. 16 at Daytona International Speedway.

“Excited to get to Daytona. It’s a great way to start the season,” Elliott said. “I know it’s not a points race, but it is nice to win, for sure. Just really proud of our team for just continuing to keep our heads down and push forward, for sure.”

The Clash is a non-points event that was held at Daytona International Speedway from 1979 to 2021 as the warm-up act to the Daytona 500. NASCAR stepped outside the box in 2022 and moved it across the country to Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, which was transformed into a temporary short track for three seasons.

NASCAR this year moved it to Bowman Gray in a throwback to grassroots racing. The Cup Series ran at Bowman Gray from 1958 to 1971 and the stadium is now used for weekly local racing and is the football field for Winston-Salem State University.

The track is notorious for flared tempers and fighting, but made it through two days of NASCAR racing without a single brawl.

“This environment is special. This is a place that has had deep history in NASCAR,” Elliott said. “I think they deserve this event, truthfully. I hope we didn’t disappoint. It was fun for me, at least. We’ll hopefully come back here one day.”

Elliott led 172 of the 200 laps in his Chevrolet from Hendrick Motorsports to win the event in front of an adoring sold-out crowd of 17,000 fans. Most spectators were on their feet every time Elliott picked off a lapped car while battling door-to-door with Denny Hamlin and then holding off Ryan Blaney at the end,

“Thanks everybody for coming out,” Elliott told the crowd. “Y’all made for a really cool environment for us. We don’t race in stadiums like this, so this is just really cool and appreciate you making the moment special for me and my team. I hope it was a good show for you.

“Had a tough race. Ryan kept me honest there at the end,” he continued. “Denny was really good at the second half of that break. I just felt like he was kind of riding, and I was afraid to lose control of the race and not be able to get it back. Fortunately it worked out. Great way to start the season.”

Kyle Larson and Josh Berry raced their way into The Clash earlier Sunday night by going 1-2 in the crash-filled last chance qualifying, and Blaney earned a spot based on points scored last season to complete the 23-driver field.

This year’s race marked the Cup Series’ first race at the “Mecca of Madhouse” but didn’t produce the off-track temper tantrums the Bowman Gray regulars are used to watching during weekly grassroots racing.

But the event was still special.

Richard Childress hails from just 15 minutes away and as a youngster the Hall of Fame team owner sold peanuts in the grandstands. He was in the stands Sunday night watching and before the race began, he stopped by the Fox Sports booth to deliver peanuts and popcorn to the broadcast crew.

“As a kid we jumped the fence and come in and sell peanuts and popcorn, then I’d hang out with all the race drivers, and we had a heck of a time,” Childress said. “I said ‘Man, as much fun as they are having, I’ve got to be a race driver.’ We’d come over here for a fight and a race would break out.”

Blaney finished second in a Ford for Team Penske and was followed by Hamlin in a Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing.

A 15-year-old boy has died after being stabbed at a school in Sheffield.

Police were called to All Saints Catholic High School on Granville Road at 12.17pm on Monday after reports of a stabbing.

South Yorkshire Police said the boy “suffered serious injuries and despite the best efforts of the ambulance service, he sadly died a short time later”. The victim’s family has been informed.

A 15-year-old boy has been detained on suspicion of murder and remains in custody.

Speaking outside the force’s headquarters, Assistant Chief Constable Lindsey Butterfield said: “It is with great sadness that I share with you today, a teenager has died following the stabbing at a Sheffield school earlier today.

“Our thoughts are with the family of the boy, his friends and the whole school community.”

ACC Butterfield said the force’s officers are “working at pace to build a full picture of how this tragedy has unfolded”.

“We know that what has happened will cause significant distress and concern,” she said.

“I would like to reassure you that our officers will remain on scene and in the local area to offer reassurance to parents, staff and local residents as our investigation continues.”

‘Second school lockdown in a week’

It is the second time All Saints Catholic High School has gone into lockdown in a week, the PA news agency reported.

Headteacher Sean Pender sent a message to parents on 29 January, saying: “The reason for the lockdown was due to threatening behaviour between a small number of students where threats were made of physical violence.”

A 2023 Ofsted report rated the school, which had 1,398 pupils at the time, as “good”.

Inspectors found that most pupils behaved well and “a strong ethos of warmth and respect pervades this school”.

‘Avoid speculation’ – police

Meanwhile, ACC Butterfield warned the public to avoid sharing distressing content related to the stabbing on social media.

She said: “We urge you to be mindful that there are loved ones at the centre of this, and they are grieving the profound loss of a teenage boy in the most devastating of circumstances.

“We would therefore ask you to avoid speculation and the sharing of online content, which could be distressing to them and detrimental to our investigation.

“We urge anyone with any information that they believe can assist us to get in touch.”

Granville Road was closed from the tram stop to Fitzwalter Road, and police asked the public to avoid the area while emergency services carried out their work.

Education secretary Bridget Phillipson said she was “devastated” to hear about the stabbing.

“My heart goes out to his family, friends and the entire school community at this distressing time,” she said.

“We are in contact with the school and council to offer support. Investigations are now under way.”

‘Serious questions need answering’

Sheffield Heeley MP Louise Haigh has said “serious questions will have to be answered” after the “horrific news” of the fatal stabbing.

“A criminal investigation will now obviously take place, but serious questions will have to be answered about how this could have happened and I will be working with the school, the police and the council to make sure they are.”

South Yorkshire’s mayor, Oliver Coppard, said: “This morning a teenage boy went to school like thousands of others across South Yorkshire but won’t come home; a young man who was a member of our community, with his whole life ahead of him.

“The vast majority of our young people don’t carry knives, but one incidence of knife crime is one too many, because when we do see knife crime happen all too often the consequences are utterly devastating, as they have been today.”