Josh Berry, Austin Cindric Advance to Cook Out Clash After Epic Battle 

Josh Berry and Austin Cindric have both qualified for the Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium.

The de facto Team Penske teammates will start from 21st and 22nd in the 200-lap main event on Wednesday evening in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, after finishing top two in the Last Chance Qualifier.

For Berry, the journey to the Cook Out Clash was quite simple, taking control of the event at Lap 17 and holding off his closest challengers throughout the 75-green-flag lap event around the quarter-mile racetrack.

By the time the checkered flag was displayed, the Hendersonville, Tennessee-native had a seven-second advantage over second-place, which equates to nearly half a lap around Bowman Gray Stadium.

“Yeah, I feel good about it. Honestly, we just struggled a little bit on the restarts, cold temperatures, locking the left-front there, and got it locked up a little bit under AJ [Allmendinger] and washed him out, but once we were able to settle in and get some heat in the tires, I felt good about our car,” said Josh Berry. “I think we can make a few small adjustments and make it a little bit better, but obviously, you don’t have great track position starting in the back. It’s a long night when you don’t make the race, so I’m glad we were able to put both of our cars in.”

Behind the race-leader, though, there was a full-on war waged for second-place (and the final transfer position) between Austin Cindric, Corey LaJoie, and AJ Allmendinger, one that embodied the full spirit of the quarter-mile racetrack.

It took more than 10 laps to settle the battle between Cindric, LaJoie, and Allmendinger, but it resulted in tons of side-by-side, full-contact racing, where shots were exchanged and lots of strategic short track racing.

The battle ended in the final set of corners, when Allmendinger made a lunge into the rear-end of Austin Cindric — who had positioned himself on the inside of Corey LaJoie in the No. 6 Solomon Plumbing Ford Mustang — and shoved him up the racetrack.

However, Allmendinger was unable to get his No. 16 Grizzly Nicotine Pouches Chevrolet off the corner fast enough to take over second place, allowing Austin Cindric to lock into Wednesday’s main event.

“That was about as fair as that could have gotten for a [Last Chance Qualifier],” said Cindric. “I appreciate Corey [LaJoie] racing hard. Obviously, we advanced in, but it’s a long road ahead, starting last with scuffs for the final here, but happy to get the Freightliner Ford Mustang in the show here and enjoy round two here at Bowman Gray.”

Corey LaJoie, serving as the fill-in driver for the injured Brad Keselowski, was unable to advance himself into the main event on Wednesday and finished in third place.

“It was like a game of chess at 50 miles an hour. You wanted to be the guy on the inside, obviously, but you don’t want to pass the guy because then he had the opportunity to get back to you,” said LaJoie. I came up a little bit short. It was exciting. It was fun to be in the fight. I hadn’t been in a fight like that in a long time.”

AJ Allmendinger brought home a fourth-place result, with John Hunter Nemechek rounding out the top five. Zane Smith, Noah Gragson, Ty Dillon, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., and Erik Jones rounded out the top-10 in the 75-lap event.

Michael McDowell finished the Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ) in 11th, after being penalized by NASCAR for jumping the initial start. The Avondale, Arizona-native started on the outside of the front row for the 75-lap event, but got the lead on the outside lane, which NASCAR deemed was illegal. That, ultimately, cost the Spire Motorsports driver a berth in the Cook Out Clash.

The 200-lap main event for the Cook Out Clash will take place at 6:00 PM ET on FOX.

LAST CHANCE QUALIFIER RESULTS: