Larson among those who fail to advance in wild Bowman Gray heat races

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. 

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.

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.