In a field of 18 desperate drivers, only the top two finishers + the points provisional (Alex Bowman) were going to transfer from the last-chance-qualifier (LCQ) into the main event for the Cookout Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium.
Bowman was happy to take the points provisional on offer to him (as the highest driver from the 2025 championship not yet locked in) instead of racing for it and risking his car, so the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet dropped from fifth on the grid to the very back for the start of the LCQ.
Josh Berry cruised to the checkered flag in the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford, for his second consecutive lock-in from the LCQ.
"I definitely think it's going to look a little bit different than last year," Berry told Motorsport.com. "Obviously, the colder temperature are making it pretty sketchy on the restarts, just getting to temperature and it just feels like the pace car is going 15 miles per hour.
"It felt like the tires are falling off more too. So I think you're gonna have to be mindful keeping the rear tires under you and staying out of trouble as always."
He will be joined by fellow Ford driver and pseudo-teammate Austin Cindric, who prevailed in a maga battle for second that turned into bumper cars between himself, Corey LaJoie, and AJ Allmendinger.
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
"That was about as fair as I think that could have gotten for an LCQ," said Cindric. "I appreciate Corey racing hard, and obviously, we advanced in, but long road ahead starting last with some scuffs for the final here."
Cindric then added: "I don't think I got full throttle for the entire race there (due to the increased horsepower), except for when emotions got high. Pretty interesting to try and manage. Hopefully we didn't get too much damage there, and we'll try to have a good final."
Berry will start 21st, Cindric 22nd, and Bowman 23rd in the main event. Kyle Larson earned pole position for the feature race in qualifying, beating Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron.
Lajoie said everything about the battle was fair. He was mad, but more at himself than for anything that happened on the track.
"I'm pissed off but not at Austin," Lajoie said. "I think everything out there was fair and above board for where we're at Bowman Gray Stadium. I just wish I could have held him on the outside and been in the position he had me in.
"I just hadn't been in a Cup car at a short track on this tire, with this horsepower, so to jump into the deep end and against these guys, they are the best at driving Stock Cars."
That's to say nothing of Allmendinger behind him too.
"You know (Allmendinger) is waiting and just biding his time," Lajoie said. "His stuff is starting to give up and get tight. So, I didn't know how close he was because I was stuck on the wrong side of that."
The other notable story occurred right at the start when Michael McDowell was deemed to have jumped the start on Berry and was penalized after leading the first six laps.
McDowell admitted he was aggressive but was adamant that Berry fired off first and spun his tires.
"The 21 (Berry) spun his tires," McDowell said. "He launched in first gear. I launched in second, so he went first, but he spun his tires and so I was ahead obviously that that part was fairly clear at the start-finish line.
"I was ahead of him, but he launched first. He just spun his tires, so, I mean, they are going to undo it. It's over now. I knew the start was going to be important. I knew getting a lead was going to be important, and so I tried to maximize as much as I could. Obviously, they thought I maximized it too much."
A point of contention is that NASCAR didn’t call it until after the caution. Would they have let it go if the race had stayed green there?
“This is where you could get disgruntled,” McDowell said. “It was fine until the caution came out. … It's frustrating,= but I knew I needed to execute a perfect start, otherwise the 2 and the 21 weren't going to let me in at any point. Obviously, like I said, they thought I got too much.”
Race recap
It didn't take look for the Madhouse to live up to its reputation in the 75-lap LCQ. Just six laps into the race, Riley Herbst got spun out, and John-Hunter Nemechek slammed into his driver's door. Cody Ware also spun out, and various other cars sustained minor damage.
Additionally, race leader McDowell was black-flagged for jumping the initial start over pole-sitter Berry.
On the following restart, there was a lot of contact as Allmendinger powered into the race lead from the outside. Berry took it back a few laps later, and they both enjoyed a comfortable margin over third.
Herbst's race didn't get much better after that first caution, and got spun sideways after contact from Cole Custer, but the race remained green.
LaJoie muscled his way by Nemechek for third, but he had a lot of ground to make up in order to reach one of those transfer spots.
Todd Gilliland limped his car behind the wall after abruptly falling off the pace, but the race remained green as Berry began to lap into the top ten.
With 14 laps to go, LaJoie caught Allmendinger and immediately moved him out of the way for the final transfer spot. But immediately afterwards, he faced an attack from Cindric.
What followed was a tense back-and-forth as LaJoie and Cindric traded blows in a full-contact battle. On the final lap, Cindric was on the inside and LaJoie was on the outside. Allmendinger drove in deep and pushed them both up the track, but Cindric managed to hand on.
As Berry captured the checkered flag, Cindric crossed the line in second, while LaJoie was third, Allmendinger fourth, and Nemechek fifth.
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
"It was like a game of chess at like 50mph," said LaJoie. "He wanted to be the guy on the inside, obviously, but you didn’t want to pass the guy either because then he had the opportunity to get back to you. Came up a little short, but it was exciting, it was fun to be in the fight.
"Hadn’t been in the fight like that in a long time. Kudos to the #6 team man, they had a lot to deal with during the offseason. I know Brad is watching from home, and he’ll be ready to go next week. It was really cool to get in this car and knock the rust off. Unfortunately, we’ll be watching from the couch, but I feel really good about next week (at Daytona).
