Kyle Larson shines in the make-or-break Bowman Gray mayhem to seal his Clash ticket

Kyle Larson has finally secured his Clash spot at the Bowman Gray Stadium after initially being sidelined from the odds of making it to the race. The Hendrick Motorsports driver couldn't dominate the 25-lap Heat race the preceding day, and thus, could've started the season on a disappointing note.

The Clash has returned to the iconic Winston-Salem facility after over a 54-year hiatus. The 0.25-mile paved oval produced exhilarating moments in the four 25-lap Heat races, which finalized the drivers for the main 200-lap event. The top five scorers from each Heat battle advanced to The Clash; however, Larson wasn't among them.

The #5 Chevy driver put rigorous efforts to punch his Clash ticket in the Heat race but salvaged an eight-place finish after kicking off the run from sixth.

Nonetheless, Larson showcased his mettle in the Last Chance Qualifying, braving nine cautions and seven lead changes to emerge victorious. The 2021 Cup Series champion, en route to his glory, upsetted rivals Cole Custer, Erik Jones, Austin Dillon, and more.

Kyle Larson kept himself in contention for the most part but fell into danger during the restarts. But as the top two drivers from the LCQ advanced to The Clash, the HMS driver was largely in the safe zone.

The Californian gunned for the checkered, after taking the white flag as the leader and fending off Josh Berry to etch his name in the history of Clash winners at Bowman Gray.

It's worth mentioning that the #54 Toyota Camry of Ty Gibbs stopped on the track on Lap 74 of 75 but the officials let the race continue.

---

Kyle Larson expressed whether he was waiting to be crashed in the LCQ

The 0.25-mile oval produced extremely tight racing with little room for drivers to overtake. Several NextGen machines got caught in the wreck fest, shattering the odds of a potentially promising result.

The Lap 23 incident between the #3 RCR Chevy of Austin Dillon, Zane Smith's #38 FRM Ford, and Erik Jones' #43 Toyota, the Lap 57 situation involving Josh Berry, Justin Haley, Michael McDowell, and John Hunter Nemechek, and more forced the race to stall under caution.

However, Kyle Larson's #5 Chevy wasn't trapped in any of the chaos at Bowman Gray. The only time his Chevy inched closer to an unwanted moment was during the lap 65 battle against Berry, Jones, AJ Allmendinger, Cole Custer, and Austin Dillon.

But the HMS driver didn't let his guard fall, embedding his name as the race winner. Following the exhilarating race, Larson was asked if he waited for another driver to drill him. Kyle Larson said via Matt Weaver on X (1:40):

"Yeah, in a way, you almost don't want to let the outside guy get clear behind you, because as soon as they get clear, they tuck in, you know they're going to get a shot from behind. So its like, you're trying to judge the gap to the third place guy in your mirror and all that, it's just wild."

Interestingly, if Ryan Blaney had won the race and Kyle Larson had failed to secure the runner-up spot, the latter would've still secured the Clash ticket, as he would be the driver with the highest points in 2024 who couldn't advance through the Heat race.