Drama-Filled LCQ Locks In Final Spots for the Clash at Bowman Gray

If the main qualifying session delivered tension, the Last Chance Qualifier delivered outright mayhem. With only two transfer spots available and seventeen frustrated drivers fighting for their season’s first lifeline, the LCQ at Bowman Gray lived up to its reputation as one of the most unforgiving scraps in NASCAR.

The green flag hadn’t even fully settled before the bumpers came out. Drivers knew they couldn’t afford patience not on a quarter‑mile where track position is everything and tempers run hot. What followed was a bruising, elbows‑out brawl that reshaped the final starting grid for the Cook Out Clash.

LCQ Starting Lineup

(As Set After Qualifying)

1. Josh Berry
2. Michael McDowell
3. Austin Cindric
4. Corey LaJoie
5. Alex Bowman (already locked in via provisional)
6. Riley Herbst
7. Cody Ware
8. AJ Allmendinger
9. Cole Custer
10. John Hunter Nemechek
11. Todd Gilliland
12. Ty Dillon
13. Noah Gragson
14. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
15. Zane Smith
16. Erik Jones
17. Chad Finchum
18. Burt Myers

LCQ Finishing Results : Top 2 Transfer

(Times Represent Intervals Reflected During The LCQ Qualifying Session)

1. Josh Berry — 3:42.811
2. Michael McDowell — +0.284
3. Corey LaJoie — +1.102
4. Austin Cindric — +1.447
5. AJ Allmendinger — +1.933
6. Riley Herbst — +2.210
7. John Hunter Nemechek — +2.889
8. Todd Gilliland — +3.104
9. Noah Gragson — +3.511
10. Ty Dillon — +3.998
11. Zane Smith — +4.227
12. Cole Custer — +4.640
13. Cody Ware — +5.312
14. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. — +5.901
15. Erik Jones — DNF (Lap 18 incident)
16. Chad Finchum — DNF (Lap 11 spin)
17. Burt Myers — DNF (Lap 5 crash)

Transfer Spots:

• Josh Berry
• Michael McDowell

What Happened In The LCQ

The LCQ began with Josh Berry launching cleanly from the pole, but the calm lasted all of three corners. Burt Myers, a Bowman Gray veteran who knows every inch of the place, got turned around entering Turn 3, stacking up the back half of the field and triggering the first caution before the race even found a rhythm.

On the restart, Berry and McDowell broke away early, but the real chaos unfolded behind them. Corey LaJoie muscled his way past Austin Cindric with a textbook Bowman Gray nudge, while AJ Allmendinger and Riley Herbst traded paint for nearly five laps straight. Every position mattered, and nobody was shy about using the bumper to get it.

The Lap 18 Blunder Between Jones And Gragson

The defining moment came on Lap 18, when Erik Jones dove under Noah Gragson entering Turn 1. The move didn’t stick. Jones wheel‑hopped, slid up the track, and collected both cars in a heavy right‑front impact with the outside wall. The caution flew, tempers flared, and the field tightened up for one final sprint.

The restart with two laps to go was pure desperation. LaJoie threw everything he had at McDowell, tagging the No. 34’s rear bumper twice in the final lap, but McDowell held firm. Berry, meanwhile, drove a flawless race, never putting a wheel wrong and never giving the pack behind him a chance to pounce.

When the checkered flag waved, Josh Berry and Michael McDowell emerged as the two survivors of the LCQ gauntlet. Everyone else will watch the main event from the sidelines or rely on provisionals if eligible.

What‘s Next

Berry and McDowell will start deep in the field, but they earned their way in the hard way, and that matters at a place like Bowman Gray. Drivers who survive the LCQ often enter the main event with a sharper edge, a hotter temper, and nothing to lose.

For the rest of the grid, the LCQ served as a preview of what’s coming. If the undercard race was this physical, the 150‑lap main event is going to be a war of attrition. Larson may have the best seat in the house, but the drivers behind him now include two LCQ survivors who already proved they’re willing to fight for every inch.