Josh Berry claimed his first NASCAR Xfinity Series win of the year Saturday with a victory at Dover Motor Speedway.
The second-year driver at JR Motorsports capped off a day dominated by JR Motorsports, as he led the final 34 green flag laps and won over his teammate Justin Allgaier. JRM put all four of its cars in the top five, as Noah Gragson placed fourth and Sam Mayer was fifth.
The outlier was Joe Gibbs Racing’s Ty Gibbs in third.
Berry came out on top after a thrilling duel for the lead with Allgaier earlier in the race. Allgaier himself led twice for 67 laps.
It’s Berry’s third career Xfinity Series win.
“Man, I looked like a weapon at the beginning (of the race),” Berry told Fox Sports 1. “I struggled a lot on the bottom on restarts, just kept working to get better. … The pit crew did a phenomenal job today. They executed when we needed it and we were there when it counted. Both times I raced here I went toe-to-toe with Justin the whole time. He is so freaking good here. I thought he was out of it after (a slow pit stop), then he’s right back to second, ‘here we go again.'”
Combined, JR Motorsports’ led 140 of 200 laps and swept every stage. Mayer led 18 laps and won the first stage, while Allgaier claimed the second.
Allgaier has finished second five times since his last win at Darlington Raceway in 2021.
“Kind of felt like we gave one away,” Allgaier told Fox Sports. “The string of bad luck that we’ve had, this was a good day.”
Mayers’ top five came after he had two problem on pit road, an unsecured wheel and a speeding penalty. With his fourth-place finish, Gragson claimed the last Dash 4 Cash bonus of the season.
AJ Allmendinger finished sixth, extending his streak of top 10s to start the season to 10.
Click here for race results.
First Stage
Brandon Jones, who started from the pole, remained in the lead until the first caution on Lap 19 for a wreck involving David Starr and Jeremy Clements on the fronstretch.
The leaders didn’t pit and the race went back to green on Lap 27.
The first lead change came on Lap 31 when Sam Mayer got underneath Jones exiting Turn 2, barely made contact with his right rear and drove by. Justin Allgaier soon followed, taking second.
Mayer would lead to the end of the stage to claim his second career stage win,.
The top 10 after 45 laps: Mayer, Allgaier, Josh Berry, Jones, John Hunter Nemechek, Ty Gibbs, AJ Allmendinger, Noah Gragson, Riley Herbst and Sheldon Creed.
In the pits, Jones led Mayer and GIbbs off pit road. Allgaier dropped four spot to sixth. But not long after returning to the track, the left-rear wheel fell off Mayer’s car on the backstretch.
When the race resumed on Lap 55, Mayer was in 32nd.
Second Stage
One lap after the restart, rookie Rajah Caruth suffered a flat tire and had to pit. He would finish last due to a broken shock mount.
By Lap 62, Gibbs was in second behind Jones and Allmendinger was third. On Lap 71, Gibbs would begin to challenge for the lead.
Lapped traffic allowed Allgaier to catch the JGR teammates and pass Gibbs on Lap 75. Five laps later Allgaier moved by Jones for the lead.
Once the lapped traffic was cleared, Allgaier led over Jones, Allmendinger and Gibbs.
With eight laps left in the stage, John Hunter Nemechek cut down his left-front tire. Nemechek retired from the race.
Mayer, bouncing back from his loose wheel, was in 12th when the caution came out with two laps to go for a Mason Massey wreck in Turn 2.
The top 10 after 90 laps: Allgaier, Jones, Allmendinger, Berry, Gibbs, Riley Herbst, Gragson, Daniel Hemric, Sheldon Creed and Austin Hill.
In the pits, Allgaier and Berry were the first to get off pit road. Mayer’s misfortune continued as he was caught speeding.
Jones had to pit a second time to properly secure a wheel.
The race resumed with 101 laps to go.
Final Stage
Allgaier retained the lead on the restart.
The caution flag returned on Lap 104 for a spin by Stefan Parsons.
The race restarted with 92 laps to go.
With 56 laps to go, Mayer was in seventh place as Berry began pressuring Allgaier for the lead with help from lapped traffic.
Berry briefly led the following lap before swapping two more times with Allgaier over the next lap.
Berry led until the next caution with 43 laps to go, when Bayley Currey stalled on the track after a mechanical problem on his No. 4 car.
In the pits, Allgaier lost three spots thanks to a slow stop. Berry was first off while Hemric was second, Gibbs was third and Allmendinger fourth.