Chase Elliott will lead the field to the green flag from pole position for the 2025 Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Elliott’s Clash pole occurred after the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion from Dawsonville, Georgia, commenced the pre-season event’s festivities by posting the fastest lap time during an on-track group-qualifying round on Saturday, February 1, which enabled him to start in first place for the first of four qualifying Heat Races that followed suit and determined nearly the entire starting lineup for the Clash. Once in the first Heat Race, Elliott muscled away from his respective group of competitors through three restart periods to win the event and claim the first-starting spot for the main event, the Clash, that will occur on Sunday, February 2.
Saturday’s activities determined nearly the entire starting lineup of the pre-season Clash in NASCAR’s historic return to Bowman Gray Stadium. They consisted of three practice sessions with the final practice session serving as a group qualifying session.
The 39 competitors who entered to bid for the main event’s spots were split into three practice groups. The three groups were comprised of 13 competitors who were given three practice sessions. The first two practice rounds lasted for eight minutes while the third and final one lasted for four minutes. During the final practice/qualifying round, the 13 competitors in each of the three groups were split into two smaller groups of six or seven.
The starting lineup for the Heat Races determined the first 20 of 23 spots for the Clash, based on the competitors’ fastest lap time from their final practice session. The fastest competitor from practice would start on the pole position for the first Heat Race, the second-fastest would start on the pole for the second Heat Race, and so forth. During the four 2-lap Heat Races only green flags counted, and overtime was not implemented. The top five finishers from each Heat Race transferred into the Clash.
Following the final practice/qualifying session, Chase Elliott, who was in the third qualifying group, started on the pole for the first Heat Race. This was due to being the fastest competitor overall, with the best on-track lap time of 14.115 seconds at 63.762 mph.
Brad Keselowski, who clocked in his best on-track lap time in 14.170 seconds at 63.515 mph, was the fifth-fastest competitor overall during the qualifying session, and joined Elliott on the front row for the first Heat Race. Earlier, both Keselowski and Elliott contested against one another in the same qualifying group.
During the first Heat Race, Elliott withstood three caution periods and ensuing restarts amid several early on-track incidents and tempers flaring to win the event after leading all 25 laps. The victory enabled Elliott and his No. 9 NAPA/Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet team to claim the pole position for the Clash, where the former will also make his ninth career start in NASCAR’s pre-season exhibition event.
“It’s going to be tough to win from the third or fourth row,” Elliott said. “I think the first couple of rows, certainly, have a massive advantage over the rest of the field. Obviously, anything can happen.
“You all have been watching this long enough to know that anything can happen and I’m well aware of that,” Elliott added. “I just think in a normal circumstance of people not totally crashing each other or whatever, yeah, I certainly would want to be on the first couple of rows, and fortunately we are. So, we’ll try to take advantage of that.”
Elliott was followed at the finish line by Keselowski, Noah Gragson, Kyle Busch, and Ross Chastain, respectively, as all transferred to the Clash. For Busch, he rallied from being involved in two early caution periods amid dust-ups with Gragson and Justin Haley, the latter of whom spun Busch’s No. 8 zone/Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet exiting the frontstretch while under caution on the seventh lap.
This prompted Busch, who had already been rubbed and bumped by Haley repeatedly earlier, to exchange the favor by repeatedly running into the rear of Haley’s No. 7 Fraternal Order of Eagles/Spire Motorsports Chevrolet to express his displeasure.
Meanwhile, Haley, the Dillon brothers of Ty and Austin, Josh Berry, and Ryan Blaney did not claim transfer spots from the first Heat Race. Gragson had also rallied from being bumped and spun on the fifth lap after Busch bumped Haley into Gragson amid a domino effect.
Next, Chris Buescher, who clocked in the second-fastest qualifying time in 14.146 seconds at 63.622 mph while in the second qualifying group, started in pole position for the second Heat event. He shared the front row with Chase Briscoe, the latter of whom posted the sixth-fastest qualifying time in 14.173 seconds at 63.501 mph while in the third group. Briscoe’s run occurred as he logged in his first laps driving the No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry XSE entry for Joe Gibbs Racing.
During the second Heat Race, Buescher, driving in his No. 17 Kroger/Tree Top/RFK Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse, proceeded to lead all 25 laps and fend off a late charge from Briscoe amid a caution-free event to win and claim the second-place starting spot for the Clash.
Both Buescher and Briscoe along with rookie Shane van Gisbergen, Bubba Wallace, and Daniel Suarez transferred to the main event after finishing in the top five on the track while Zane Smith, Erik Jones, Kyle Larson, Cody Ware, and Garrett Smithley did not transfer.
Meanwhile, Denny Hamlin, the reigning four-time Clash winner, started on pole position for the third Heat event after he posted the third-fastest qualifying time overall in 14.151 seconds at 63.600 mph while in the second group. Joey Logano, the reigning three-time Cup Series champion who clocked in the eighth-fastest qualifying time in 14.194 seconds at 63.407 mph, started alongside Hamlin’s No. 11 Sport Clips/Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry XSE entry on the front row.
During the third Heat Race, Hamlin proceeded to lead all 25 laps and he cruised to win a caution-free event by more than a second, which allowed him to claim the third-starting spot for the Clash. Logano fended off William Byron to finish second as they transferred to the Clash along with top-five finishers Carson Hocevar and Alex Bowman, while Ty Gibbs, Riley Herbst, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Burt Myers, and Tim Brown did not transfer.
Lastly, Tyler Reddick, who contested in the third group, started on pole position for the fourth and final Heat event after being the fourth-fastest competitor overall during the qualifying session and with his best lap time in 14.163 seconds at 63.546 mph. He shared the front row with Toyota teammate Christoper Bell, who contested in the second group and posted the seventh-fastest qualifying lap time in 14.194 seconds at 63.407 mph.
During the final Heat Race, Reddick withstood two early caution periods and proceeding restarts to lead all 25 laps and win in his No. 45 Jordan Brand/23XI Racing Toyota Camry XSE entry by more than two seconds, which enabled him to claim the fourth-starting spot for the Clash.
Reddick was followed at the finish line by Bell, Ryan Preece, Austin Cindric, and Todd Gilliland, the latter four of whom claimed starting spots to the Clash, while Michael McDowell, AJ Allmendinger, John Hunter Nemechek, and Cole Custer did not transfer. Allmendinger, Nemechek, and Custer finished the event despite being involved in on-track incidents that left all three with damaged race cars.
Overall, the following competitors including AJ Allmendinger, Josh Berry, Ryan Blaney, Tim Brown, Cole Custer, Austin Dillon, Ty Dillon, Ty Gibbs, Justin Haley, Riley Herbst, Erik Jones, Kyle Larson, Michael McDowell, Burt Myers, John Hunter Nemechek, Zane Smith, Garrett Smithley, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Cody Ware did not transfer to the Clash from Saturday’s Heat Races.
As a result, they will all compete in the Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ) Race on Sunday before the Clash. The LCQ’s starting lineup is based on the competitors’ results from their respective Heat events. Through this format, Ty Dillon will start in pole position for the LCQ after finishing in sixth place during the first Heat Race.
Dillon will share the front row with Zane Smith, the latter of whom finished sixth in the second Heat Race. Ty Gibbs and Michael McDowell, who both finished sixth during the third and fourth Heat Races, will follow suit in the second row.
The LCQ event will consist of 75 laps, where green flag laps will be recorded, and no overtime will be implemented. Only the top two finishers from the event will transfer and claim the 21st and 22nd spots, respectively, into the Clash. The 23rd and final starting spot to the Clash is a provisional spot reserved for the competitor who was the highest finisher in the 2024 driver’s standings but did not transfer from either of the Heat events and LCQ.
Before the Heat Races, Joey Logano occupied the provisional spot for being the 2024 Cup Series champion. Logano, however, transferred to the Clash by finishing in second place during the third Heat Race.
Ryan Blaney, Logano’s teammate at Team Penske, finished in the runner-up spot in the 2024 championship standings. If Blaney does not finish in the top two spots during the LCQ event, he is next in line for the provisional spot in the Clash
Clash starting lineup:
1. Chase Elliott
2. Chris Buescher
3. Denny Hamlin
4. Tyler Reddick
5. Brad Keselowski
6. Chase Briscoe
7. Joey Logano
8. Christopher Bell
9. Noah Gragson
10. Shane van Gisbergen
11. William Byron
12. Ryan Preece
13. Kyle Busch
14. Bubba Wallace
15. Carson Hocevar
16. Austin Cindric
17. Ross Chastain
18. Daniel Suarez
19. Alex Bowman
20. Todd Gilliland
21. *Last Chance Qualifier – First Place
22. *Last Chance Qualifier – Second Place
23. *2024 Point Provisional Competitor
The Last Chance Qualifier Race at Bowman Gray Stadium is scheduled to occur on Sunday, February 2, and air at 6 p.m. ET on FOX. The Cook Out Clash will follow suit with an airing time of 8 p.m. ET on FOX.
