WINSTON, SALEM, N.C. — A bomb cyclone over North Carolina forced NASCAR to push its preseason exhibition to Wednesday night because the snow-covered roads are too dangerous for teams and fans to get to historic Bowman-Gray Stadium.

The Clash had been scheduled to run Sunday night and has now been postponed twice, with a schedule adjustment, because of the intense snowfall that blanketed the area. NASCAR first condensed the race into a one-day, Sunday-only show, then pushed the race to Monday.

NASCAR said Sunday it was moving it to Wednesday evening “due to the impacts of historic winter weather across the North Carolina region.”

The race is now scheduled to run one week before qualifying for the Daytona 500, at Daytona International Speedway, where The Clash was held from 1979 through 2022.

The Clash went to a temporary track inside the Los Angeles Memorial Stadium for three seasons, then moved to its grassroots anchor at Bowman Gray last year.

Its first year was a success but the second running has been interrupted by the bomb cyclone, known to meteorologists as an intense, rapidly strengthening weather system. It contributed to nearly a foot (30 centimeters) of snow in and around Charlotte, North Carolina’s largest city and home base for the majority of the NASCAR teams.

The snowfall represented a top-five snow event all time in Charlotte, said Peter Mullinax, a meteorologist with weather prediction center in College Park, Maryland.

A minor crash has snowballed into a major traffic emergency on Interstate 85 North in Kannapolis, according to WCNC. 

After a small collision occurred near exit 60 for Dale Earnhardt Boulevard, dozens of tractor-trailers had to slow down to attempt to maneuver around it. However, the slowdown has chilled the roads.

Over 30 tractor-trailers and more than 70 cars are now trapped on the highway, according to North Carolina State Highway Patrol.

Due to the freezing temperatures and inches of snowfall, the large trucks can’t gain enough momentum to move along.

The National Guard has been called in to help clear the roads.

The Charlotte area got considerably more snow than the Triangle on Saturday, with heavy bursts falling at times. The official cause of the collision is not known.

The road is closed from Dale Earnhardt Boulevard to Lane Street.