Growing up, Riley Neal cherished trips to Truist Stadium with his family to cheer for the local minor league baseball team in the Winston-Salem Dash.
He never imagined the Dash would one day be on his car for a Modified race at Bowman Gray Stadium.
The arrival of the NASCAR Cup Series to Winston-Salem for the Cook Out Clash on Sunday evening presented a perfect opportunity for Neal to partner with the Dash for the accompanying Madhouse Classic on Saturday. Neal’s Modified and firesuit will feature the Dash’s familiar white and purple pinstripe colors as he chases a checkered flag in the Modified race.
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Neal’s commitment to supporting the Dash has persisted into his teenage years, which is why he is determined to deliver the team a strong showing for one of the most prestigious events in recent Bowman Gray history.
“During race season, I work [for the Winston-Salem Dash] from Monday-Friday and also on Sundays, too,” Neal said. “I know just about everyone there, [so it’s really cool] to say that they sponsored me. I always loved Bolt [the mascot] as a kid, so being able to have [the team] on my race car is something that’s really special to me.”
Sponsorship from the Dash is not the only aspect of the upcoming weekend over which Neal finds himself in disbelief.
The idea of any major NASCAR touring event at Bowman Gray, let alone a Cup Series race, was one Neal and his family always considered to be far-fetched. Prior to the announcement of the Clash being moved to Bowman Gray, the last Cup Series event at the historic track was in 1971, a race won by Hall-of-Famer Bobby Allison.
Since then, Bowman Gray has become a cornerstone of short-track racing in the southeast, renowned for its vibrant crowds and heated on-track action. Neal’s family has enjoyed plenty of success at Bowman Gray during that period, with his grandfather Tommy being a multi-time champion in the Sportsman and Stadium Stock classes.
Now with the Cup Series back at Bowman Gray for the first time in five decades, Neal anticipates a chaotic-but-enthralling environment for competitors and fans all weekend. He is trying to not let the gravity of the occasion distract him while preparing for Saturday’s 125-lap Modified feature.
“We don’t realize right now how big of an event this is going to be,” Neal said. “It’s all going to set in on Saturday morning at about 7:45 when I pull in the gate and I see all the Cup haulers. We’re going to be working right across from those guys. I don’t want to think about it too much, because I want to focus on ourselves and do our own thing.
“Then on Sunday, I can go watch and understand how cool this is.”
When Brian DeAngelis joined the Dash as both the president and general manager back in 2021, he quickly took notice of how much the locals loved racing. He enjoys every chance to honor Bowman Gray’s rich culture, which includes a racing-themed night each year at Truist Stadium that includes activities for fans such as changing tires and fueling cars.
This weekend will be the first time the Dash have sponsored any car for an event at Bowman Gray, but DeAngelis knew Neal would be the perfect choice for the venture with his status as an employee along with his dedicated work ethic.
“It starts and ends with Riley,” DeAngelis said. “He’s a great kid and somebody you want on your staff. We knew the Clash was coming and Riley was looking for sponsors, so who else would we put our support behind? For someone who has given so much time and is a great employee, it made too much sense for us to do this.”
DeAngelis was one of the last within the Dash organization to discover that Neal himself was a full-time Bowman Gray competitor. Once he found out, DeAngelis attended his first Bowman Gray race to support Neal, where he got a formal introduction to the electric atmosphere and how committed drivers are to winning.
Finding success at the Madhouse is an arduous process with which Neal is all too familiar. The triumphs Neal amassed in Bowman Gray’s Sportsman class included becoming the youngest winner in track history at 14, but he has not visited Victory Lane since moving up to the Modified division.
Neal does not see the task of a Modified victory being any easier with the Madhouse Classic. Since all of Bowman Gray’s weekly events are held during the summer, Saturday’s event presents plenty of unknowns for both veterans and rookies alike as they acclimate to the cooler track conditions.
The Madhouse Classic will also be held in the daytime as opposed to evening or nighttime conditions. An unorthodox setting for such a prestigious event is keeping Neal vigilant when it comes to qualifying, as he knows how important track position is to performance at Bowman Gray.
“Nobody has qualified over there in February with the track being as green and cold as it is,” Neal said. “We’ve never experienced this before. When we pull off the track after practice, everyone is trying to keep their cars as cool as possible. You’re going to have to keep heat in them [on Saturday]. I’m taking a bunch of propane heaters to keep the car warm.
“Whoever keeps the most heat in the car and gets the most heat in the tires is going to be your polesitter.”
If he does not earn the pole, Neal hopes his starting position is somewhere on the inside line. He said no rubber on the track due to months of inactivity, combined with the cooler weather conditions, will make it impossible for an outside line to be viable, forcing everyone to fight for the bottom.
A long offseason of diligent work has Neal confident he can put himself in the best position possible to excel not only on Saturday, but the rest of the 2025 season. For now, Neal’s focus is on the Madhouse Classic, where he is taking pride in blending his motorsports career alongside his job with the Dash.
DeAngelis is thrilled with how everything came together for the Dash to sponsor Neal, from the publicity the team has gotten to the hype surrounding the event. Nothing would thrill DeAngelis more than seeing Neal take the Dash to Victory Lane, but he will consider the weekend a success regardless of how the race unfolds.
“We’ve already gotten more than what we wanted out of this partnership,” DeAngelis said. “If [Riley] won, we’d probably have him come out and throw the first pitch on opening day. He might even become a local legend in the baseball world, but we hope it’s a good race and Riley does what he sets out to do.
“It’d be so great to be out on the track with him. We’ll keep our fingers crossed.”
Neal has no idea when the Cup Series will visit Bowman Gray again, which only adds to the motivation of opening his sophomore Modified campaign with his first win. Reaching that milestone on such a big stage would carry plenty of catharsis for Neal, knowing he added to his family’s esteemed Madhouse legacy with his favorite baseball team on the car.
“It would mean so much to me,” Neal said. “That would be my first win in a Modified at the stadium. If [everything] is correct, then I would become the youngest Modified winner, too. I want to do this for my team more than anything. We all worked so hard last year to learn this race car and different things about it, so I hope it can all pay off for us.”
With so many eyes on him and the rest of the Modified competitors this weekend, Neal is ready to step up to the plate and hit a home run at Bowman Gray with the Winston-Salem Dash by his side.