WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Chase Elliott will lead the field to the green flag Sunday night at Bowman Gray Stadium after winning the pole for the Clash.
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The Hendrick Motorsports driver led all 25 laps of Heat Race 1 and took the checkered flag. This secured the top spot in the field for the 200-lap main event.
Brad Keselowski, Noah Gragson, Kyle Busch, and Ross Chastain transferred out of Heat Race 1.
Chris Buescher won Heat Race 2 after leading all 25 laps. This put him on the front row next to Elliott for Sunday's main event. Chase Briscoe, Shane van Gisbergen, Bubba Wallace, and Daniel Suarez all transferred to the main event.
The first heat race was a slugfest from the start. Elliott and Keselowski all raced each other cleanly at the front of the pack while battling for the win and the pole, but the same couldn't be said about the drivers fighting for the transfer spots.
BOWMAN GRAY BEEF. 🥩
Kyle Busch and Justin Haley aren’t happy.
📺 : NASCAR pic.twitter.com/hTx0Az7ek6
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) February 2, 2025
Noah Gragson, Justin Haley, and Kyle Busch showed no hesitation as they slammed into each other in the turns. Gragson and Busch both spun after contact from Haley and then Busch showed his frustration under caution. He remained pinned to the rear of Haley's car until NASCAR sent him a message to calm down.
The second heat race was the opposite. The drivers ran all 25 laps without incident and calmly took the checkered flag.
The heat races continued with Denny Hamlin winning a quiet No. 3. He transferred to the main event along with Joey Logano, William Byron, Carson Hocevar, and Alex Bowman.
The final heat race had early carnage with Cole Custer and AJ Allmendinger putting each other into the outside wall. Ryan Preece then punted John Hunter Nemechek into the outside wall in retaliation for earlier contact. This caused significant damage to Nemechek's Toyota.
The final heat race calmed down after the early incidents as Tyler Reddick went on to win from the pole. Christopher Bell, Ryan Preece, Austin Cindric, and Todd Gilliland all transferred to the main event.
With the heat races complete, the drivers with secure spots in the main event will prepare for Sunday night. The rest will prepare for Sunday's Last Chance Qualifying race, which will send two more drivers to the main event. This will take place on Feb. 2 at 6 p.m ET. Fox will provide coverage for the sold-out night of racing.
Qualified for the Clash: Elliott, Buescher, Hamlin, Logano, Byron, Hocevar, Bowman, Keselowski, Gragson, Busch, Chastain, Briscoe, van Gisbergen, Wallace, Suarez, Reddick, Bell, Preece, Cindric, and Gilliland.
Heading to Last Chance Qualifying: Ty Dillon, Austin Dillon, Justin Haley, Josh Berry, Ryan Blaney, Ty Gibbs, Riley Herbst, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Burt Myers, Tim Brown, Zane Smith, Erik Jones, Kyle Larson, Cody Ware, Garrett Smithley, Michael McDowell, AJ Allmendinger, John Hunter Nemechek, and Cole Custer.
Note: Blaney will automatically earn a spot in the main event by being the highest-finishing driver in last season's points if he doesn't take one of the two LCQ spots.
