Kyle Larson, Josh Berry and Ryan Blaney rounded out the starting grid for the 2025 Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium following the Last Chance Qualifying Race (LCQ) on Sunday, February 2.
Larson, who started in 10th place for the LCQ event, led a race-high 36 of 75 scheduled laps as he carved his way to the lead for the first time on Lap 30. Amid the event’s nine restart periods and a series of on-track carnages, Larson sustained front nose damage to his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet entry after he hit Erik Jones, whom Larson was battling for the lead, with 10 laps remaining that knocked Jones out of contention. Amid the damage, Larson would proceed to overtake Berry for the lead for the final time with four laps remaining. From there, he retained the top spot and won the LCQ event as he transferred into the main event, the Clash.
With runner-up finisher Berry also transferring to the Clash, Ryan Blaney used the points provisional from the 2024 season, where he finished in the runner-up spot in the championship standings, to claim the final starting spot in the pre-season exhibition event.
The starting lineup for the 75-lap LCQ event was determined at the conclusion of the Clash’s four qualifying Heat Races that occurred on Saturday, February 1, where 19 of 39 starters who did not transfer to the Clash from the Heats competed in the LCQ and were lined up based on their highest-finishing results from their respective Heat Races. During the event, only green flag laps were recorded and no overtime was implemented.
Ty Dillon, who finished in sixth place during the first Heat Race, started on pole position for the LCQ event and he shared the front row with Zane Smith, the latter of whom finished in sixth place in the second Heat Race. Ty Gibbs, who finished in sixth place during the third Heat Race, occupied the third-starting spot and he was joined on the second row by Michael McDowell, the latter of whom finished sixth in the fourth Heat Race.
Prior to the event, the following names that included AJ Allmendinger, Ryan Blaney, Cole Custer and John Hunter Nemechek dropped to the rear of the field for unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries. All four competitors were involved in separate incidents during their respective Heat Races, but all managed to have their respective entries repaired in time for the LCQ.
When the LCQ event commenced under green, Ty Dillon and Zane Smith dueled for the lead in front of a stacked field. As the leaders quickly made their way back to Turn 4 with the start/finish line in sight, Dillon managed to lead the first lap by a hair. He and Smith would continue to duel through the second lap period until Smith muscled ahead from the outside lane as he led the lap.
Amid contact with Dillon in Turn 1, starting on the third lap, Smith managed to use the small straightaways and turns to emerge ahead of Dillon and he would lead by the fifth lap mark. Dillon then moved Smith up the track in Turn 1 as he cleared Smith and had the lead with both lanes under his control. With Smith pinned on the outside lane, Ty Gibbs made his move beneath Smith entering Turn 3 and the former would muscle ahead of Smith on the seventh lap period as Austin Dillon and Erik Jones joined the battle.
Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Ty Dillon was leading ahead of Gibbs, Austin Dillon, Smith and Jones while Michael McDowell, Kyle Larson, Justin Haley, AJ Allmendinger and Cody Ware all followed suit in the top 10. By then, rookie Riley Herbst had fallen off the pace after cutting a tire amid contact with McDowell.
Two laps later, Ty Gibbs muscled his No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Camry XSE beneath Ty Dillon’s No. 10 Sea Best Chevrolet as he emerged with the lead entering Turn 4. Soon after, the Dillon brothers made contact entering Turn 3, with Austin hitting and moving Ty up the track. As Austin tried to transition back towards the bottom lane, he made contact with Smith that got the former sideways, but he kept his car straight as Smith dueled with Austin Dillon for the runner-up spot. As Smith assumed the runner-up spot, the Dillon brothers made contact once again entering Turn 1 on Lap 14 as both Austin Dillon and Erik Jones pinned Ty Dillon in the middle to move up to third and fourth on the track. Kyle Larson then moved both Dillon brothers up the track in Turn 3 as he moved up to fourth while the Dillon brothers dropped to fifth and sixth on the track.
Then as the front-runners continued to bump against one another through every turn and straightaway, the LCQ’s first caution flew when Jones turned Ty Dillon in Turn 2 on Lap 16, which sent the latter for a full spin as the field scattered to avoid Dillon’s damaged Chevrolet.
When the race restarted under green on Lap 17, Gibbs muscled ahead of Larson and Smith and he retained the lead for a full lap while both Larson and Smith dueled for the runner-up spot in front of Austin Dillon. Larson and Smith continued to duel for second place by the Lap 20 mark and Gibbs retained the lead while both Austin Dillon and Jones followed suit in the top five. Larson would then clear Smith by Lap 22 and he proceeded to pursue Gibbs for the lead while Austin Dillon battled Smith for third place.
Then on Lap 23, the LCQ’s second caution flew when Smith, who had been bumped by Austin Dillon for third place and was trying to bump Dillon back, made contact with Jones entering Turn 3 as he slipped and hit the outside wall, which plummeted Smith below the leaderboard. By then, Ryan Blaney, who had the 2024 points provisional to make the Clash, elected to park his car in the garage.
The next restart period on Lap 25 featured Gibbs and Austin Dillon dueling for the lead for nearly a full lap before Gibbs managed to use the inside lane to muscle ahead and lead the next lap. Behind, Larson would overtake Dillon to move into second place as the latter retained third place in front of Jones and Allmendinger. Despite having Larson bumping into his rear bumper through the corners, Gibbs retained the lead until he got sideways entering Turn 3 on Lap 29, which allowed Larson to get underneath Gibbs as the former moved into the lead for the following lap. Both Dillon and Jones took advantage of Gibbs’ misfortune to move into second and third, respectively, over the next two laps while Gibbs dropped to fourth place in front of Justin Haley.
At the halfway mark between Laps 37 and 38, Larson was leading by more than two seconds over Austin Dillon and Jones while Gibbs, Haley, Allmendinger, John Hunter Nemechek, Cody Ware, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Josh Berry followed suit in the top 10. Behind, Cole Custer, Ty Dillon, Michael McDowell, Zane Smith, Burt Myers, Tim Brown and Garrett Smithley trailed behind as Larson continued to lead by the Lap 40 mark.
Following a third caution period that occurred on Lap 42 due to Smithley getting bumped and spun in Turn 3, the start of the next restart period on Lap 44 featured Larson and Jones dueling for the lead for nearly a full lap before Larson managed to clear Jones entering Turn 4 to retain the lead during the next lap period. Behind, Jones fended off Dillon for second place as Haley, Allmendinger and Gibbs followed suit in the top six. With Dillon still pursuing Jones for a transfer spot to the Clash, Larson slowly drove away with the lead as he led the Lap 50 mark.
Then with 18 laps remaining, the caution returned as Gibbs, who was battling Josh Berry for sixth place, got bumped and sent for a spin between Turns 1 and 2. Gibbs, who ended up backwards following his spin, was dodged by the field and he managed to continue.
With the race restarting under green with 18 laps remaining, Larson and Dillon dueled for nearly a full lap as the former continued to use the inside lane to gain the final advantage entering Turn 4 and clear Dillon. As Larson led the following lap, Dillon followed suit in second as Jones and Allmendinger dueled for third place. Behind, however, the caution returned when Haley got bumped and sent for a spin by Berry in Turn 3 while racing in fifth place. As the field got jumbled up to avoid Haley, McDowell, Haley’s teammate at Spire Motorsports, also spun through the infield grass.
The next restart period with 16 laps remaining featured Larson and Dillon briefly dueling through the first two turns until Larson muscled ahead entering Turn 3. Dillon then locked up his car entering Turn 3, which allowed Jones to muscle into second while Dillon got shoved back to fifth as both Berry and Allmendinger moved up to third and fourth. During the next lap, Dillon would then get pinned in a three-wide battle with Nemechek and Cole Custer for fifth place as Larson checked out with a stable lead.
Amid the late on-track battles, the caution returned with 14 laps remaining when Stenhouse sent Burt Myers, the latter of whom was scored in eighth place, for a long spin through the frontstretch’s infield grass before Myers’ No. 50 Citrusafe Cleaners Chevrolet shot back across the track and pounded the Turn 1 outside wall hard. The incident, which placed the LCQ event in a red flag period, spoiled Myers’ dream weekend of contending in his first Cup Series event as a competitor as his hopes of competing in the Clash at a track to which he claimed 12 championships came to a bitter end.
As the LCQ event restarted under green with 13 laps remaining, Larson and Jones dueled for the lead for a full lap as Jones used the outside lane to lead the following lap by a nose. With Berry and Allmendinger following suit, Larson, who remained dead even with Jones during the next lap, got sideways entering Turn 4. This allowed Jones to lead another lap from the outside lane, but Larson fought back from the inside lane and continued to duel with Jones and Berry joined the battle. As both Jones and Larson dueled in front of Berry, the caution flew with 11 laps remaining due to Gibbs spinning for a second time, this time by Haley as the latter bumped and got Gibbs sideways through the first two turns before Gibbs full spun through the backstretch. Under the caution period, Gibbs briefly got airborne as he rammed into the side of Haley in retaliation before he took his car to the garage for repairs.
With the race restarting under green with 11 laps remaining, where Jones and Berry occupied the front row in front of Larson and Allmendinger, Jones used the inside lane through the backstretch to muscle ahead with the lead. Then entering Turn 3, a bumping domino effect resulted in Jones getting bumped up the track as both Berry and Larson tried to force their way beneath Jones for the lead entering the frontstretch. After getting bumped sideways entering the frontstretch, Jones then got spun in front of the field and he got hit by Larson, Austin Dillon and Custer as the field scrambled to avoid Jones’ damaged No. 43 Family Dollar Toyota Camry XSE entry. Amid the contact that knocked Jones out of contention, Berry emerged with the lead ahead of Larson.
Down to the final 10 laps of the LCQ event, the race restarted under green. At the start, Berry and Custer dueled for the lead through the first three turns until the former muscled ahead with the lead from the inside lane. With Berry leading the next lap, Larson dueled and overtook Custer for the runner-up spot as Austin Dillon, Allmendinger and Nemechek followed suit. As Larson pursued Berry for the lead, Allmendinger, who was racing in the top five, fell off the pace after he hit the wall. The race, however, remained under green as Allmendinger pitted. Meanwhile, Berry and Larson retained the top-two transfer spots over Austin Dillon with five laps remaining.
Then with four laps remaining, Larson rocketed past Berry’s No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang Dark Horse to assume the lead through the backstretch. As Larson led the next lap in his damaged No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, Austin Dillon started to close in on Berry for the runner-up spot. Despite Dillon reeling in on Berry through every corner and straightaway, Berry maintained the final transfer spot over the next two laps.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Larson remained in the lead with a steady margin over both Berry and Austin Dillon. Not long after, the caution flag waved and the LCQ event was ruled official as Gibbs spun for a third time, this time in Turn 3. As a result, Larson and Berry were able to claim transfer spots to the Clash by finishing first and second, respectively, in the LCQ event.
By winning the LCQ event, Larson claimed a starting spot in the Clash for the 10th time in his career. In addition, Berry, who settled in second place, made the pre-season event for the first time in his career and his first driving the No. 21 Ford entry for Wood Brothers Racing.
Lastly, Ryan Blaney, who retired early, was awarded the 23rd and final starting spot to the Clash based on the 2024 points provisional, where Blaney ended up in the runner-up spot during the previous season’s championship standings. As a result, Blaney achieved his eighth starting spot for the Clash.
Austin Dillon settled in third place during the LCQ event while Nemechek, McDowell, Zane Smith, Stenhouse, Haley, Ty Dillon and Tim Brown finished in the top 10. Unfortunately, they all did not transfer to the Clash along with Cody Ware, Cole Custer, Garret Smithley, Ty Gibbs, AJ Allmendinger, Erik Jones, Riley Herbst and Burt Myers.
The LCQ event featured nine caution periods and seven lead changes for six different leaders.
Results:
1. Kyle Larson, 36 laps led
2. Josh Berry, six laps led
3. Austin Dillon
4. John Hunter Nemechek
5. Michael McDowell
6. Zane Smith, four laps led
7. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
8. Justin Haley
9. Ty Dillon, seven laps led
10. Tim Brown
11. Cody Ware
12. Cole Custer
13. Garrett Smithley
14. Ty Gibbs, two laps down, 18 laps led
15. AJ Allmendinger, seven laps down
16. Erik Jones, 10 laps down, four laps led
17. Riley Herbst, 10 laps down
18. Burt Myers, 14 laps down
19. Ryan Blaney 52 laps down
The 2025 Cook Out Clash is scheduled to follow suit with an airing time of 8 p.m. ET on FOX.
