Larson among those who fail to advance in wild Bowman…

UPDATE: Kyle Larson won the LCQ on Sunday, advancing into the main event alongside Josh Berry. Ryan Blaney took the points provisional.

On Saturday night, NASCAR held four heat races to help form the field for Sunday's feature event at the historic short track. Of the 39 entries, only 23 will get to compete for the Bobby Allison Memorial Trophy. And after four rough and wild heat races, we now know who 20 of them are.

The first heat race set the tone with some intense back-and-forth over the transfer spot which directly involved former Cup champion Kyle Busch. After being spun out by Justin Haley, he stalked the Spire Motorsports driver under caution, staying glued to his rear bumper. NASCAR was not impressed and after a couple of laps of full contact under yellow, they gave him a 'final warning' to knock it off.

Tempers are already flaring at the Madhouse 😡

🎥 @NASCAR pic.twitter.com/edwdXm9iQ1
— Motorsport.com (@Motorsport) February 2, 2025

But the real shocker of the night came later on when Kyle Larson struggled to make any forward progress in his 25-lapper and failed to advance. While he could get the points provisional for the 23rd spot on the grid, that is no guarantee. It goes to the highest car in 2024 owner's points that fails to advance through the last-chance-qualifier on Sunday, so it is currently in the hands of last year's championship runner-up, Ryan Blaney. Should he race his way in via the LCQ, Larson can then acquire the provisional. If both manage to race their way in via the LCQ, then the provisional goes to Ty Gibbs.

Kyle Larson, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet (Photo by: Sean Gardner / Getty Images)

Sparks also flew in the final heat race as A.J. Allmendinger and Cole Custer tangled for the final transfer spot. Allmendinger squeezed Custer into the wall and both drivers crashed. Later on, John-Hunter Nemechek moved Ryan Preece for the final transfer spot, only to get punted into the wall moments later as Preece took his revenge.

Out of room ❌

🎥 @NASCAR pic.twitter.com/mxuSwkEwm7
— Motorsport.com (@Motorsport) February 2, 2025

The drivers going to the LCQ are as follows: Ty Dillon, Austin Dillon, Josh Berry, Justin Haley, Ryan Blaney Zane Smith, Erik Jones, Kyle Larson, Cody Ware, Garrett Smithley, Ty Gibbs, Riley Herbst, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Burt Myers, Tim Brown, Michael McDowell, A.J. Allmendinger, John-Hunter Nemechek, and Cole Custer.

The younger Dillon brother (Ty) will start the LCQ from pole position with Smith lining up alongside. Larson will be back in tenth for the start of the 75-lap race and only the top-two finishers will advance. And with Blaney starting even deeper in the pack (17th), Larson likely won't be able to fall back on the provisional and will have to push his way through the pack.

Below you can find the current lineup for The Clash, featuring the 20 drivers who have already secured spots. Of note, Trackhouse Racing and RFK Racing were the only teams to have all of their cars race their way in on Saturday night.

Pos.	Driver	Team	-- --
1	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Heat #1 winner
2	Chris Buescher	RFK Racing	Heat #2 winner
3	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Heat #3 winner
4	Tyler Reddick	23XI Racing	Heat #4 winner
5	Brad Keselowski	RFK Racing
6	Chase Briscoe	Joe Gibbs Racing
7	Joey Logano	Team Penske
8	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing
9	Noah Gragson	Front Row Motorsports
10	Shane van Gisbergen	Trackhouse Racing Team
11	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports
12	Ryan Preece	RFK Racing
13	Kyle Busch	Richard Childress Racing
14	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing
15	Carson Hocevar	Spire Motorsports
16	Austin Cindric	Team Penske
17	Ross Chastain	Trackhouse Racing Team
18	Daniel Suarez	Trackhouse Racing Team
19	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports
20	Todd Gilliland	Front Row Motorsports
21	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	LCQ race winner
22	Josh Berry	Wood Brothers Racing	LCQ runner-up
23	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Points provisions