Larson dominates, fan favourites falter: LCQ at Bowman Gray report

4 hours ago3 min read

Written by Sean McKean

In a last-ditch effort to make the main show, 19 drivers went all out for two spots. Take a look about how the last chance qualifier at the Madhouse unfolded.

As it unfolded

Ty Dillon and Zane Smith took the green flag and battled until Lap 6, when Dillon punted him and finally took the lead.

Further back, 23XI’s Riley Herbst fell off the pace. It appeared to be a tyre rub following a battle with Kyle Larson.

On Lap 13, Ty Gibbs took the lead from Dillon. This began a battle between Austin and Ty Dillon that saw the two sabotage their own positions. This allowed Zane Smith to move in the final transfer spot and Larson into third.

After laps on battling and congestion, tempers boiled over for Erik Jones, who turned Ty Dillon on the backstretch in front of the pack on Lap 17. Ty received a bit of damage from the incident.

Gibbs led the way on the next restart whilst Larson and Smith battled for the final transfer spot in second.

By Lap 23, Larson got through into second after Smith made big contact with Dillon. With Erik Jones to his side, Smith tried retaliating on Austin Dillon – resulting in Smith going into the outside wall.

Ty Gibbs started as leader for the next restart, but by Lap 33, Kyle Larson bumped his way past to take the lead. Austin Dillon followed through to move into second.

On Lap 44, the caution came out again after Garrett Smithley was spun by Cody Ware. Smithley kept going without damage.

Larson led the way with Jones to his outside on the restart. Jones held strong on the outside but faced pressure from A. Dillon behind.

As Gibbs fell further back, he was spun around by Josh Berry on Lap 57. This brought the caution out with only 20 laps remaining.

Larson led the way again – this time with Dillon to his outside. Dillon maintained his place in second, but behind, Justin Haley went for a spin off the bumper of AJ Allmendinger. Teammate Michael McDowell also went for a spin in avoidance.

Erik Jones moved into second on the next restart after sending Dillon into the next zip code, who ended up falling outside of the top five. This allowed Berry to move into third and begin chasing down Jones.

The caution came out again on Lap 62 for the biggest crash yet, unfortunately, for a fan favourite. After getting clipped by Stenhouse into Turn 1, Burt Myers went for a big slide through the grass and into the outside wall. Myers retired from the race.

On the restart, Jones held his own on the outside against Larson, but Berry pressured close behind. However, before the run could materialise, Gibbs went for another spin on Lap 65 to bring out the caution. Jones was scored as the leader.

Under the caution, Gibbs shoved Haley in the door to show displeasure for their contact but ended up going into the air. Gibbs suffered major damage to the front.

Jones and Berry headed the field on the next restart. However, Larson made it three-wide off of Turn 4. This sent Jones into a spin and gave front damage to Larson’s car. Cole Custer also got a piece of it. This brought out the caution again, with Berry being scored as the leader.

Berry and Custer led the way on the 10-to-go restart. Berry got off to a solid lead whilst Larson took second from Custer.

With three laps remaining, Larson took the lead with Berry in second. It remained that way as the caution came out for another Ty Gibbs spin.

LCQ Results (bold denotes advances):