Josh Berry’s incredible 2021 season continued Saturday night in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Alsco Uniforms 302 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Substituting for the injured Michael Annett, Berry scored his second-career NASCAR Xfinity Series win.
Berry won in a duel against his JR Motorsports teammate Justin Allgaier.
“It was tough,” Berry said. “Me and Justin have raced together a lot this year. Most of them, he has gotten the better of me. Today we were able to get one.”
After a heated battle, Berry took the lead heading into the final round of pit stops. Under the green flag pit stops, Allgaier regained the lead. But Berry wasted no time getting back around Allgaier for the lead.
Over the final 17 laps of the race, Berry would climb to a 4.398-second victory margin. Berry would climb from his car and belt out a loud, “Woo!”
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Berry, who was involved in a 13-car lap 30 crash, led a total of 38 laps in the 201 lap event, and he was fastest when it mattered most.
“Oh my gosh. This thing was so fast,” Berry explained. “It just took me a while to figure it out. I knew the race would go down to the bottom at the end, I felt like. So, I just wanted to work hard and make sure my car ran good on the bottom. I just had to stay disciplined and keep working on it. These guys made the right adjustments.”
While Berry is not eligible for the 2021 NXS driver’s championship, his victory moves the No. 1 JR Motorsports team into the Round of 8 in the Owner’s Championship Playoffs.
Allgaier was the best of the NXS Playoff contenders as he finished runner-up, and he says he just lacked a little bit of grip in the end to make a run for the win.
“I was disappointed in the middle of the race there, we felt like we were really good,” Allgaier said. “And then the sun fully went down, we just needed a little more right rear grip and that is where I feel like the No. 1 had us beat.”
Noah Gragson rallied from two pit road penalties to finish third, making it a 1-2-3 finish for JR Motorsports.
Austin Cindric and Daniel Hemric finished fourth and fifth.
Brandon Jones, AJ Allmendinger, Ty Dillon, Justin Haley and Harrison Burton rounded out the top-10 finishers in this race.
Here are the full results for Saturday night’s race at Las Vegas:
Results: 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series Alsco Uniforms 302 at Las Vegas
Three playoff contenders, Riley Herbst, Jeb Burton and Jeremy Clements had their races end early after being involved in the lap 30 massive pileup.
Here are how the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoff Standings look after Las Vegas:
- Austin Cindric, +66 points
- AJ Allmendinger, +59
- Justin Allgaier, +38
- Noah Gragson, +37
- Daniel Hemric, +34
- Justin Haley, +17
- Harrison Burton, +13
- Brandon Jones, +10
- Myatt Snider, -10 points
- Jeb Burton, -27
- Riley Herbst, -32
- Jeremy Clements, -36
While the focus is on the driver championship, the night in Las Vegas belongs to Josh Berry.
