TIMMONSVILLE, S.C. – Josh Berry delivered one last parting gift to the late model stock car community before embarking on his first full NASCAR Xfinity Series season.
That present came in the form of his first Icebreaker victory at Florence Motor Speedway Saturday, which he accomplished by patiently saving his tires before overtaking local racer Casey Kelley on the final restart of the afternoon.
Berry considers himself fortunate to have been a part of JR Motorsports’ late model stock car operation for more than a decade and is excited to see what its future holds with Carson Kvapil now set to take over as the program’s lead driver.
“This was a really good car for us,” Berry said. “It’s awesome to get another win and it’s been so much fun racing with these guys over the years. They put in a lot of hard work over the winter and I’m really excited for the opportunity Carson has in front of him.”
Although Berry ended up winning by more than 7.5 seconds, he knew that a proper swan song was far from assured when the 125-lap feature began.
The only drivers to outqualify Berry in the 29-car starting field were Zack Miracle and Connor Hall. Miracle earned the pole after previously obtaining the same honor in last year’s South Carolina 400 and the Aaron’s 125, while Hall was piloting the same car that Ty Majeski used to defeat Berry in the 2020 edition of the South Carolina 400.
When misfortune hit both Hall and Miracle before the halfway point, Berry focused on conserving his equipment so that he could use clean air to pull away from the rest of the field during the closing stages.
“You can never let your guard down in these races,” Berry said. “Connor Hall was really good but he broke, then [Zack Miracle] had some trouble. Both of them would have been right up there with me, so I really caught a break there. We needed to stay in the top-five and once I got cleaner air, my car drove much better.”
After getting passed by Berry on the lap 79 restart, Kelley fought valiantly to maintain solid track position and ultimately ended up settling for sixth.
Kelley did not want to ride around at the back of the field like he did in the South Carolina 400, as he believed being so far behind everyone else put him at a competitive disadvantage once it was time to start being aggressive.
Kelley admitted that he could have been more cautious with the tires at the beginning of the Icebreaker, but he was more than proud of what he and his team accomplished and is confident that they now have a solid plan in place to win the South Carolina 400 later this year.
“I was trying to set the pace myself,” Kelley said. “This is only our second race with this car and we race at Florence just about every week. We knew Josh Berry was going to be coming there right at the end and I was hoping I could hold him off but we just burned the tires off the car but that’s the way it goes.”
With his win in the Icebreaker, Berry now checks off another crown jewel event from his list after previously winning the Hampton Heat, Thanksgiving Classic and Battle of the Stars during the 2020 season.
Even though Berry’s time racing late model stock cars full time has come to a close, he said that he will always be grateful for the memories he has created with JR Motorsports and plans to add a few more victories to his resume whenever he has time on his schedule.
“This was really meaningful,” Berry said. “[JR Motorsports] and I have had a lot of success together over the years and I’m going to keep racing with them until I’m too old to do so. Now we’re off to Daytona.”
Miracle ended up second, with Kade Brown, Trent Barnes and Brandon Pierce completing the top-five.
Now that he has broken the ice on the new season, Berry will turn his attention towards the NASCAR Xfinity Series, where he looks to apply the same efficiency that brought him so many prestigious victories while driving a late model stock car for JR Motorsports.
The finish:
Josh Berry, Zack Miracle, Kade Brown, Trent Barnes, Brandon Pierce, Casey Kelley, Jacob Heafner, Doug Barnes Jr., Mason Diaz, Justin Milliken, Jeremy McDowell, Ryan Glenski, Matt Cox, Conner Jones, Mike Darne, Bryant Barnhill, Matt Linker, Mark Wertz, Janson Marchbanks, Thad Moffitt, Austin Somero, Jeb Burton, Annabeth Barnes-Crum, Ryan Millington, Carter Langley, David Roberts, Jamie Weatherford, Connor Hall, Randy Benson.