Josh Berry celebrates in victory lane after winning Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Photo: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images
When Josh Berry crossed the finish line at Charlotte Motor Speedway — giving JR Motorsports its first NASCAR Xfinity Series win at its home track — second-place Ty Gibbs was just reaching the 200-foot-long Speedway TV screen television on the backstretch.
After JRM teammate Justin Allgaier scraped the outside wall for the second time and had to pit during the final 81-lap green-flag run, Berry won Saturday’s Alsco Uniforms 300 by an astonishing 18.039 seconds over Gibbs.
But the race wasn’t that lopsided before Allgaier had to bring his No. 7 Chevrolet to pit road on lap 186 of 200.
True, Berry and Allgaier were racing in a different zip code from the rest of the field, but their battle was intense until Allgaier nicked the wall on lap 178 and hit the turn 2 barrier even harder eight laps later.
With Allgaier out of the picture, Berry enjoyed a pleasure cruise for the remaining 14 laps and finished three-quarters of a mile ahead of Gibbs.
“Man, it’s so amazing,” Berry said. “This car was so good. (Crew chief) Mike (Bumgarner) and this whole group works so hard. We’ve been getting better every week. I think the sky is the limit as we continue to learn about each other and keep getting better.
“That was a battle with Justin. It always is with us. We always seem to run good at the same places and always have to race each other. He slipped up in (turn) 1 — and I got loose, too, and it all worked out.”
In fact, JR Motorsports, co-owned by NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt, Jr., enjoyed another banner day from green flag to checkered flag. Sam Mayer started from the pole position and finished third. Berry won the first stage and Allgaier the second, giving JRM its 10th consecutive stage victory — extending the series record established last week at Kansas Speedway.
Five drivers led laps on Saturday — four of them from JRM. Berry led a race-high 89 circuits, followed by 63 for Allgaier, 36 for Noah Gragson and two for Mayer. Gragson dropped off the lead lap with a cylinder down, but, with power seemingly restored, he recovered to finish fourth.
Berry won for the second time this season and the fourth time in his career. JRM has won four of the last five Xfinity Series races.
“I think everybody knew that this was going to be a good benchmark for our organization, and I think I speak for everybody in saying that we exceeded expectations,” Berry said.
Ryan Preece came home fifth in the top Ford, with Daniel Hemric, Allgaier, Sheldon Creed, Trevor Bayne and Myatt Snider completing the top 10.
Allgaier had the lead on lap 163 after a full cycle of green-flag pit stops, and he held it until Berry beat him to the stripe by .022 seconds on lap 176. Allgaier regained the top spot on lap 177 but scraped the wall for the first time a lap later.
“We tried to put on a show for the fans,” Allgaier said. “I don’t know if you can drive any harder. At one point we were literally barreling off into turn 1 harder than we did in qualifying.
“I thought we were going to be OK there and battle it out again (after the first contact with the wall), but unfortunately, my right rear started to go flat.”
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Charlotte Motor Speedway – Concord, NC
Alsco Uniforms 300 – May 28, 2022
1. (4) Josh Berry, Chevrolet, 200.
2. (36) Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 200.
3. (1) Sam Mayer, Chevrolet, 200.
4. (7) Noah Gragson, Chevrolet, 200.
5. (3) Ryan Preece(i), Ford, 200.
6. (10) Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet, 200.
7. (2) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 199.
8. (18) Sheldon Creed #, Chevrolet, 199.
9. (6) Trevor Bayne, Toyota, 199.
10. (33) Myatt Snider, Chevrolet, 199.
11. (14) Brett Moffitt, Chevrolet, 199.
12. (15) Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, 199.
13. (29) Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, 199.
14. (20) Austin Hill #, Chevrolet, 199.
15. (25) Bayley Currey, Chevrolet, 198.
16. (5) Brandon Jones, Toyota, 198.
17. (32) Brandon Brown, Chevrolet, 198.
18. (16) J.J. Yeley, Ford, 198.
19. (8) A.J. Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 198.
20. (27) Matt Mills, Chevrolet, 198.
21. (34) Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet, 197.
22. (23) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 197.
23. (35) C.J. McLaughlin, Ford, 196.
24. (28) Shane Lee, Toyota, 196.
25. (37) Riley Herbst, Ford, 196.
26. (17) Ryan Vargas, Chevrolet, 187.
27. (26) Josh Williams, Chevrolet, Suspension, 175.
28. (31) Nicholas Sanchez, Chevrolet, Ignition, 173.
29. (12) Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, 131.
30. (11) Stefan Parsons, Chevrolet, Accident, 119.
31. (13) Austin Dillon(i), Chevrolet, Accident, 109.
32. (22) Ryan Sieg, Ford, Accident, 109.
33. (30) Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, Accident, 109.
34. (24) Joe Graf, Jr., Ford, Accident, 109.
35. (19) Brennan Poole(i), Chevrolet, Brakes, 71.
36. (21) Kyle Weatherman, Chevrolet, Accident, 41.
37. (38) Jeffrey Earnhardt, Toyota, Accident, 41.
38. (9) Timmy Hill(i), Toyota, Accident, 25.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 117.557 mph.
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 33 Mins, 7 Secs. Margin of Victory: 18.039 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 8 for 44 laps.
Lead Changes: 12 among 5 drivers.
Lap Leaders: S. Mayer 1-2;R. Preece(i) 3;N. Gragson 4-35;J. Berry 36-45;J. Allgaier 46-94;J. Berry 95-109;R. Preece(i) 110-118;J. Berry 119-158;N. Gragson 159-162;J. Allgaier 163-175;J. Berry 176;J. Allgaier 177;J. Berry 178-200.
Leaders Summary: (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led) Josh Berry 5 times for 89 laps; Justin Allgaier 3 times for 63 laps; Noah Gragson 2 times for 36 laps; Ryan Preece(i) 2 times for 10 laps; Sam Mayer 1 time for 2 laps.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 8,7,9,16,11,1,5,54,19,02
Stage #2 Top Ten: 7,8,1,18,5,16,54,2,11,02
Playoff Standings: 1. Ty Gibbs – 490 (3 Wins); 2. Noah Gragson – 497 (2 Wins); 3. Josh Berry – 470 (2 Wins); 4. A.J. Allmendinger – 530 (1 Win); 5. Justin Allgaier – 472 (1 Win); 6. Brandon Jones – 400 (1 Win); 7. Austin Hill – 365 (1 Win); 8. Sam Mayer – 423; 9. Riley Herbst – 362; 10. Daniel Hemric – 351; 11. Landon Cassill – 334; 12. Ryan Sieg – 324.
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.