The NASCAR Clash is finally underway.
After being twice-postponed due to weather, the season-kickoff exhibition event started almost without a hitch on Wednesday afternoon with practice and qualifying for the main event. A short red flag period was required to address some “weepers” that were leaking onto the track from piles of snow behind the SAFER barrier.
NASCAR had to switch to a truncated schedule to fit everything into one day and dismissed with the usual heat race qualifiers for the main event and went to a fastest lap format, with the top 20 advancing to the main event at 6 p.m.
2025 NASCAR Cup Series Champion Kyle Larson will start on pole alongside his Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron, while Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Ty Gibbs and Chase Briscoe will line up behind them.
Here’s the full starting lineup:
- Kyle Larson
- William Byron
- Ty Gibbs
- Chase Briscoe
- Christopher Bell
- Denny Hamlin
- Bubba Wallace
- Chris Beuscher
- Ross Chastain
- Tyler Reddick
- Chase Elliott
- Carson Hocevar
- Kyle Busch
- Joey Logano
- Austin Dillon
- Ryan Blaney
- Shane van Gisbergen
- Ryan Preece
- Connor Zilisch
- Daniel Suarez
Eighteen drivers will now move on to the 75-lap Last Chance Qualifier at 4:30 p.m. ET (Fox) to race for two open spots, while the driver who finished highest in the 2025 standings that didn’t make it through qualifying will line up in 23rd spot for the main race. Here’s the lineup for the Last Chance Qualifier:
- Josh Berry
- Michael McDowell
- Austin Cindric
- Corey Lajoie
- Alex Bowman
- Riley Herbst
- Cody Ware
- AJ Allmendinger
- Cole Custer
- John Hunter Nemecheck
- Todd Tilliland
- Ty Dillon
- Noah Gragson
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Zane Smith
- Erik Jones
- Chad Finchum
- Burt Meyers
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