As the NASCAR Cup Series readies for another season beginning this weekend at Bowman Gray Stadium in North Carolina for the Cook Out Clash, drivers weighed in on a number of burning topics.

Among those was NASCARs recent Open Exemption Provisional rule, which allows an additional 41st entry into the Cup Series field for special or invited entries to any race.

The rule comes amid four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves bid to compete in the Daytona 500 later this month with Trackhouse Racings Project91 program.

Castroneves, despite being an open entry, will be guaranteed a spot in the race if he fails to qualify on time or through the duels at Daytona (Fla.) Intl Speedway.

Denny Hamlin, who doesnt shy away from voicing his opinion, believes it reeks of desperation, from the sport.

I dont know how else to say it, Hamlin said. I dont know how nice you can really say it. It just feels like you are really trying to get any kind of headline you can to be relevant and I dont love it.

The driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota and co-owner of 23XI Racing continued, stating the move, while is a win for NASCAR with Castroneves track record, could be a long-term loss going forward.

I just think that you are premier stock car series in the U.S., Hamlin began. The premier racing sport in the U.S.; be the big boys and force people to come in here and get their credentials and do it the natural way.

I dont think it is going to be a big factor anywhere other than Daytona, but just simply put, saying that someone has a name that interests you and that they are going to have an automatic bid in the highest form of motorsports in the U.S. I dont love it.

When posed with the question, 2020 Cup Series champion Chase Elliott took a more neutral approach.

Youd hate to have a Helio Castroneves, a Max Verstappen, a Lewis Hamilton or someone come in to run a race and then miss the show due to something silly, Elliott said. So I can certainly see that aspect of it from a promotor side of things, where you wouldnt want to risk that because thats obviously going to be a big deal for you.

But I also think that with prestigious races, there should be some sort of integrity in making the show. I think thats part of what makes the race prestigious. You know, its a hard event to make.

On the flip side, Elliott pointed to other prestigious races like the Indianapolis 500 or the Chili Bowl Nationals as a reason to perhaps leave guaranteed spots out of racing.

I think you see that with the Indianapolis 500, or you see that at the Chili Bowl Its a hard race to make, Elliott said. Its a big deal just to get into the show, so I can see both sides of the fence there.

I think its totally fine. I just dont want to ever degrade or hurt the long-term integrity of the sport and take the prestige out of events that should be some of our biggest days of the year.

For 2023 Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney, the opportunity to compete alongside the former Team Penske driver is one hes looking forward to.

I might be biased, but I love Helio, so I was psyched when it was like, OK, hes running the 500. Oh, and hes locked in? Thats great for Helio,' Blaney said.

He was in Indy cars when I was over there at Penske for a while before he moved on, so I love Helio and Im happy that Im gonna be able to race against him because I loved growing up watching him run Indy cars, and then to get to be a semi-teammate driving for the same guy for a long time with Roger, so I didnt really have any thoughts about it, to be honest with you.

I was just excited that Helio is gonna be running the 500.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. Chris Buescher may have entered this weekend as a sleeper to win the Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium.

However, after a stellar performance on Saturday, hell enter Sundays event with a strong case for victory.

The RFK Racing driver qualified second out of the 39 entries at the quarter-mile bullring oval. Following time trials, Buescher went unmatched in his heat to score a wire-to-wire victory and an outside front row starting spot for Sundays main event.

Hendrick Motorsports driver Chase Elliott starts on pole.

While on paper Bueschers night ended near perfect, the start was a different story. Through the first practice session, the No. 17 Ford sat 30th on the speed charts.

His RFK team, however, was prepared to rectify the problem.

We made big changes. The team made really good changes and just had a game plan coming in, Buescher explained. We ran a lot of simulation leading up to this. We dont typically do a ton of preliminary work from me as a driver in the simulator. Its typically a lot more after races, but given my track record at these quarter miles, I figured better bite off into that one.

I ran a lot more there and went through all three of our cars and tried to pick out the good and the bad, and our team did a good job of having changes ready so that when we got here and realized we were just way too loose, we were able to make quick adjustments to get in the ballpark, Buescher continued.

In our second session out there we were able to get on the other side of it and we were able to bring that back and then also just kind of tweak on some braking stuff at the same time and just got it to where it was a whole different race car for qualifying and for that heat race.

Bueschers teammates also showed strength during the heat races as Brad Keselowski finished second in the first heat while newcomer Ryan Preece fought his way to third in the fourth and final heat.

While each heat race was only 25 laps, Sundays finale is slated to be 200 laps. With it being the series first stop to Bowman Gray since 1971, theres still plenty of unknowns.

One of those is how tire wear will play out. Despite the small sample size, Buescher felt he was able to experiment with longer runs and find a baseline for what may work from a strategical standpoint.

I believe its gonna be colder yet tomorrow, but I think were gonna get to the point where youre gonna chase tire wear, Buescher said. Were gonna try to take care of stuff. We tried in the heat race. We tried to get a couple car lengths out and just kind of conserve from there. I think it did work.

We had something left at the end just to be able to get that little bit of gap, but I would imagine that we are gonna see it fall off.

I think we just hope that you can control it as a driver. If you can make a difference in that fall off, thats ideal. If we all fall off the same no matter what you do, then its hard to make a difference from behind the wheel, or as big a difference, but I feel like you can be smart about it and know when to push and make decisions at the right times that if the tire will react to that, then itll make comers and goers throughout the evening.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. It was a great night for NASCARs most popular driver.

After setting the fastest time in the final four-minute practice session and earning the top starting spot in the first qualifying heat, Chase Elliott won that heat wire-to-wire to win the pole position for Sundays Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium.

Elliott described track position at the tight quarter-mile track as critical to success.

Its going to be tough to win from the third or fourth row, said Elliott, who will share the front row with Heat 2 winner Chris Buescher, who led every lap of the qualifier and held off new Joe Gibbs Racing hire Chase Briscoe to claim the second starting spot in the 200-lap exhibition race.

I think the first couple of rows certainly have a massive advantage on the rest of the field. Obviously, anything can happen. You all have been watching long enough to know that anything can happen, and Im well aware of that. But I think just in a normal circumstance of people not totally crashing each other or whateveryeah, I certainly would want to be on the first couple of rows and, fortunately, we are. Well try to take advantage of that.

Heat 3 and 4 winners Denny Hamlin and Tyler Reddick will start from third and fourth on the grid, respectively. To underscore just how important starting position is, all four heat winners won wire-to-wire after posting the four fastest laps in the final practice sessions to earn their pole positions for the qualifiers.

The top five drivers in each heat advance to Sundays clash. The remaining 19 drivers will compete for two spots in a last chance qualifier that precedes Sundays main event. The 23rd spot in the field goes to the driver with the highest number of 2024 championship points not otherwise qualified for the Clash.

That provisional belongs to Ryan Blaney, who finished 10th after starting third in a wild first heat that featured three cautions in 25 laps. Kyle Larson, who started sixth and finished eighth in the second heat will have to race his way into the main event from the LCQ.

After battling a loose condition in his No. 17 Round Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford in the opening eight-minute practice session, Buescher benefited from adjustments made to the car based on considerable preparation time in the simulator.

We had the changes ready, so when we got there and realized we were just way too loose, we were able to make quick adjustments to get in the ballpark, said Buescher, who had failed to qualify for the main event in the last three Clashes at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

Joining Elliott in the main event from Heat 1 were Brad Keselowski, Noah Gragson, Kyle Busch and Ross Chastain. Heat 2 qualifiers included Buescher, Briscoe, Shane van Gisbergen, Bubba Wallace and Daniel Suarez.

Advancing from Heat 3 in addition to Hamlin were reigning NASCAR Cup champion Joey Logano, William Byron, Carson Hocevar and Alex Bowman. Joining Reddick from Heat 4 were Christopher Bell, Ryan Preece, Austin Cindric and Todd Gilliland.