WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Kyle Larson ended the 2025 season as the Cup Series champion. Now, he begins the 2026 season with a front row start.
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Larson will lead the Cup Series field to the green flag for the Wednesday night Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium after posting a lap of 14.137 seconds. Teammate William Byron will join him on the front row for the exhibition event after posting the second-fastest time during qualifying (14.141 seconds).
MORE: Clash practice/qualifying results
This year's version of the Clash is unlike other events on the Cup Series schedule. The top 20 drivers transferred from the qualifying session after snow forced NASCAR to cancel the heat races.
This list of drivers included Ty Gibbs, Chase Briscoe, Christopher Bell, Denny Hamlin, Bubba Wallace, Chris Buescher, Ross Chastain, Tyler Reddick, Chase Elliott, Carson Hocevar, Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, Austin Dillon, Ryan Blaney, Shane van Gisbergen, Ryan Preece, Connor Zilisch, and Daniel Suarez.
Alex Bowman, who had the 25th-fastest time during qualifying, also made the show. He was the highest-ranking driver in 2025 points who did not have a spot in the main event already. This left two other spots for drivers from the Last Chance Qualifying race.
Josh Berry and Austin Cindric ultimately captured these two spots after a Last Chance Qualifying race featuring no shortage of aggressive moves.
Berry and Michael McDowell just missed the top-20 cutoff for the Clash, so they started on the front row for the LCQ race. Cindric and Corey LaJoie — subbing for an injured Brad Keselowski — lined up behind them.
The rest of the LCQ lineup included Bowman, Riley Herbst, Cody Ware, AJ Allmendinger, Cole Custer, John Hunter Nemechek, Todd Gilliland, Ty Dillon, Noah Gragson, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Zane Smith, Erik Jones, Chad Finchum, and Burt Myers.
McDowell jumped to the front of the pack at the start of the LCQ, but he received a penalty for going ahead of Berry. This dropped him to the rear of the field and opened up the opportunity for Berry to check out and cruise to a win.
The battle for the final transfer spot featured three drivers — LaJoie, Cindric, and Allmendinger. The Kaulig Racing driver had the advantage for the first 35 laps, but he ultimately lost his spot to both LaJoie and Cindric.
Trading paint for the final transfer spot! Josh Berry and Austin Cindric advance to the main event. Alex Bowman gets the provisional. pic.twitter.com/s0iJE8Rq95
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) February 4, 2026
Allmendinger then cruised around for the rest of the race as LaJoie and Cindric banged doors and fought for position. Though he ultimately delivered the deciding movement by hitting Cindric from behind on the final lap.
This punted the Team Penske driver into LaJoie and broke up the scuffle. Cindric cleared LaJoie and Allmendinger, and he cruised to a runner-up finish. He advanced to the main event.
"That was about as fair as that could have gotten for an LCQ," Cindric said after the race. "I appreciate Corey racing hard. Obviously, we advanced in, but it's a long road ahead starting last with scuffs for the final here, but happy to get the Freightliner Ford Mustang in the show here and enjoy round two here at Bowman Gray.
"This is a very cool place. I was happy with how the car held on for a long run. I kind of had to save my stuff after I got punted out of the way early, so it seemed to play out reasonably well. I'm glad it went as long as it did. It was fun and a good way to get started."
The Clash will take place at 6 p.m. ET. Fox will provide coverage as drivers battle over 200 laps. Only green flag laps will count, and the teams will have a break at Lap 100.
