Josh Berry leads JR Motorsports 1–2–3 in Vegas

Josh Berry was supposed to be spending his Saturday night at Martinsville Speedway competing in the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 late model race. Instead, the 2019 winner was at Las Vegas Motor Speedway driving the #1 of JR Motorsports in place of the injured Michael Annett. The so-called “super sub” for Chevrolet teams more than delivered in relief duty as he led the final seventeen laps and JR Motorsports team-mates Justin Allgaier and Noah Gragson en route to winning his second career NASCAR Xfinity Series race in the Alsco Uniforms 302.

Austin Cindric started on the pole ahead of regular season champion A.J. Allmendinger, and the former would lead until the competition caution on lap 29. Hell broke loose on the ensuing restart when Riley Herbst was clipped entering turn one, triggering a massive wreck that collected Brandon Brown, Jeb Burton, Jeremy Clements, Bayley Currey, Ty Dillon, Joe Graf Jr., Alex Labbé, Dylan Lupton, Sam Mayer, B.J. McLeod, and J.J. Yeley. After cleanup, the first lap concluded with a five-lap run that Allmendinger won ahead of future Kaulig Racing team-mate Daniel Hemric, Cindric, Ty Gibbs, Noah Gragson, Harrison Burton, Ryan Sieg, Brandon Jones, Berry, and Brett Moffitt.

Dillon kicked off Stage #2 by leading seventeen laps, his most in NASCAR since he led sixteen in the 2017 Richmond fall race. During his run, Sieg spun on lap 55 and hit Jade Buford, resulting in the lone caution of the stage. Allgaier took the lead on lap 66 and held it to the finish. Dillon, Cindric, Gragson, Hemric, Berry, Gibbs, Moffitt, Allmendinger, and Haley closed out the top ten.

Allgaier continued to lead as the final stage commenced. On lap 122, Moffitt bumped Haley shortly after being passed and caused him to spin. On lap 160, Berry claimed the top spot from his JRM ally and only briefly relinquished it during green-flag pit stops, during which Haley and Allgaier enjoyed some time in front. Berry cycled back to the lead on lap 185 and would not give up the spot as he secured his second career Xfinity win.

Some fans saw the reigning Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series champion’s victory as an indictment of Annett, who brings sponsorship to the JRM #1 but only has one victory in five years with the team, and the role of funding in the sport; Berry often struggled to find adequate financial support to become an Xfinity regular, but will finally get such a shot with JRM in 2022. Others drew parallels between his win and Christian Eckes‘ in Friday’s Camping World Truck Series event: both were part-time drivers who were not competing in the playoffs while their teams swept the top three spots; Eckes’ ThorSport Racing team took it a step further with a 1–2–3–4 finish. JRM’s fourth car of Mayer finished thirty-fourth after the wreck.

“Me and Justin raced together a lot this year and most of them, he’s gotten the better of me,” said Berry. “Today, we were able to get one. This is cool.”

Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	15	1	Josh Berry	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	201	Running
2	3	7	Justin Allgaier	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	201	Running
3	9	9	Noah Gragson	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	201	Running
4	1	22	Austin Cindric	Team Penske	Ford	201	Running
5	7	18	Daniel Hemric	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	201	Running
6	8	19	Brandon Jones	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	201	Running
7	2	16	A.J. Allmendinger	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	201	Running
8	28	31	Ty Dillon	Jordan Anderson Racing	Chevrolet	201	Running
9	4	11	Justin Haley	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	201	Running
10	5	20	Harrison Burton	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	201	Running
11	6	54	Ty Gibbs	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	200	Running
12	27	02	Brett Moffitt	Our Motorsports	Chevrolet	200	Running
13	36	15	Bayley Currey*	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet	200	Running
14	19	44	Tommy Joe Martins	Martins Motorsports	Chevrolet	200	Running
15	12	2	Myatt Snider	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	200	Running
16	37	4	Landon Cassill	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet	200	Running
17	20	39	Ryan Sieg	RSS Racing	Ford	199	Running
18	26	47	Kyle Weatherman	Mike Harmon Racing	Chevrolet	199	Running
19	31	6	Ryan Vargas	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet	199	Running
20	24	23	Blaine Perkins	Our Motorsports	Chevrolet	198	Running
21	38	61	David Starr	MBM Motorsports	Toyota	197	Running
22	16	68	Brandon Brown	Brandonbilt Motorsports	Chevrolet	197	Running
23	30	78	Mason Massey	B.J. McLeod Motorsports	Toyota	197	Running
24	18	92	Josh Williams	DGM Racing	Chevrolet	196	Running
25	32	90	Spencer Boyd*	DGM Racing	Chevrolet	196	Running
26	23	48	Jade Buford	Big Machine Racing	Chevrolet	195	Running
27	34	66	Matt Jaskol	MBM Motorsports	Toyota	195	Running
28	29	5	Matt Mills	B.J. McLeod Motorsports	Chevrolet	194	Running
29	22	0	Jeffrey Earnhardt	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet	194	Running
30	39	99	B.J. McLeod*	B.J. McLeod Motorsports	Chevrolet	193	Running
31	35	52	Carson Ware	Jimmy Means Racing	Toyota	113	Electrical
32	40	74	C.J. McLaughlin	Mike Harmon Racing	Chevrolet	100	Overheating
33	10	98	Riley Herbst	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	31	Accident
34	11	8	Sam Mayer	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	31	Accident
35	25	26	Dylan Lupton*	Sam Hunt Racing	Toyota	31	Accident
36	14	10	Jeb Burton	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	30	Accident
37	33	17	J.J. Yeley	SS-Green Light Racing	Chevrolet	30	Accident
38	17	36	Alex Labbé	DGM Racing	Chevrolet	30	Accident
39	13	51	Jeremy Clements	Jeremy Clements Racing	Chevrolet	30	Accident
40	21	07	Joe Graf Jr.	SS-Green Light Racing	Chevrolet	30	Accident

Bold – Currently in playoffs
Italics – Competing for Rookie of the Year
* – Ineligible for Xfinity points