Josh Berry won the Last Chance Qualifier at Bowman Gray Stadium on Wednesday evening to advance to the Cook Out Clash (6 p.m. ET, FOX, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Austin Cindric outlasted Corey LaJoie for second place to earn the final transfer spot into The Clash in a fantastic, side-by-side battle over the final 15 laps of the 75-lap event.
Alex Bowman will join Berry and Cindric in The Clash, earning the provisional reserved for the highest 2025 points finisher that hadn’t otherwise advanced.
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Berry escaped to win by 7.419 seconds — an eternity on the historic 0.25-mile track. AJ Allmendinger held the final transfer spot for much of the event before he was tracked down by LaJoie and Cindric. LaJoie, substituting for an injured Brad Keselowski in the No. 6 RFK Racing Ford, shared plenty of contact with Cindric over the final 15 laps, trading paint and positions before Cindric got the better of LaJoie in the final set of corners. After the checkered flag, LaJoie offered a thumbs-up to Cindric, who was appreciative of a fair fight.
The only yellow flag of the contest waved at Lap 5 when Riley Herbst and Cody Ware went spinning in Turns 3 and 4. John Hunter Nemechek took nose damage to his No. 42 Toyota when he struck the side of Herbst’s No. 35 car with Cole Custer, incurring slight contact to the nose of his No. 41 Chevrolet. Custer later collided with Herbst, sending Herbst sliding right-rear first into the outside SAFER barrier, but Herbst continued without drawing a caution.
Second-place starter Michael McDowell leaped to the lead on the initial start, but under the Lap 5 caution, NASCAR ruled McDowell jumped the start, penalizing the No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet by dropping McDowell to the rear of the field on the ensuing restart. He ultimately finished 11th in the 18-car field.
Berry will start 21st in the 200-lap main event with Cindric starting 22nd. Bowman takes the 23rd and final spot on the grid for the exhibition Cook Out Clash.