Kyle Larson won Sunday’s (Feb. 2) 75-lap Last Chance Qualifier to earn a spot in tonight’s inaugural Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium.
Larson started 10th but quickly made his way to the front, ultimately passing Josh Berry with four laps to go for the win. Berry finished second to earn the final transfer spot.
“My car was way better than it was yesterday,” Larson told FOX. “That was a lot of fun getting to the front without really getting into too many people.”
Berry took over the race lead late, but it came at the expense of Erik Jones. Berry made contact with Jones battling for the top spot on a restart, sending Jones spinning in front of the field and out of contention with 10 laps to go.
There's chaos on the restart! 😳 pic.twitter.com/2zEHEVwpKl
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) February 3, 2025
“That was about like we expected, we knew it’d be rough,” Berry told FOX. “You hate that it comes to that, but it’s what it is. It’s ‘The Madhouse.’ It’s Bowman Gray Stadium… I hate the one with Erik. I’m not really sure. I was just trying to tuck in and I got hit from behind. I don’t know the timing of it all.”
Larson will start the Clash in 21st while Berry will start 22nd. Ryan Blaney hung out in the back of the field and retired after 25 laps, finishing 19th. As the runner-up in the driver’s points last season, Blaney was guaranteed a spot in the Clash via the points provisional. He’ll start 23rd for the 200-lap main event.
Austin Dillon, John Hunter Nemechek and Michael McDowell rounded out the top five, but all three failed to advance to the main event.
Two local legends of Bowman Gray, Burt Meyers and Tim Brown, failed to make the Clash in one-off rides. Meyers in the No. 50 AmeriVet Chevy crashed hard in turn 1 on lap 62 and finished 18th. Brown finished 10th in Rick Ware Racing’s No. 15 car.
James Krause joined Frontstretch in March 2024 as a contributor. Krause was born and raised in Illinois and graduated from Northern Illinois University. He currently works in La Crosse, Wisconsin as a local sports reporter, including local short track racing. Outside of racing, Krause loves to keep up with football, music, anime and video games.