Josh Berry Scores $50,000 Payday in Thanksgiving Classic Win at Southern National Motorsports Park

Josh Berry took home the $50,000 prize and massive trophy for winning Sunday’s Solid Rock Carriers Thanksgiving Classic at Southern National Motorsports Park in Lucama, North Carolina.

The big Turkey trophy and the $50,000 winner’s check will go home to @JRMotorsports, and that should make Johnny Morris doubly happy! @BassProShops @joshberry. pic.twitter.com/ZSI0JotVB4

— JR Motorsports (@JRMotorsports) November 28, 2022

Berry scored the win over Jared Fryar, who he passed for the lead with under 50 laps to go in a race that featured a lot of varying strategies, as some drivers opted to run for broke, while many others, like Berry, utilized a tire conservation strategy.

According to Berry, the strategy call was something he and his team talked about and perfected heading into the race.

“We really talked a lot today about what our plan was, what we thought was going to happen, and what thought we needed to do. I thought it was really fun. I really enjoyed the controlled caution thing, just the strategy part of it. I think kind of like what you see at the big super late model races.”

In the end, Berry’s strategy played out beautifully.

However, Berry’s second-consecutive Thanksgiving Classic victory at Southern National Motorsports Park wasn’t expected. Last year’s win was supposed to be his last attempt in this race. Then, it wasn’t.

“Yeah, definitely,” Berry stated when asked if this year’s win in the Classic was cooler than last year’s. “We ran this race last year kind of like a send off for me. I hadn’t really run this race a whole lot. It’s tough on all of your people with Thanksgiving and all. It’s a big commitment. When Mike and Solid Rock Carriers stepped up with that big of a purse, we knew we had to be here.”

With the victory, which came in the throwback gold No. 3 Bass Pro Shops paint scheme that Dale Earnhardt Jr. piloted last weekend in the South Carolina 400 at Florence, Berry has now amassed 100 victories in his career with JR Motorsports through all disciplines of racing.

? https://t.co/tNXeZVNjnO pic.twitter.com/5VghyZMaOY

— JR Motorsports (@JRMotorsports) November 28, 2022

The 32-year-old Berry, who made it into the Championship 4 of the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs in 2022, kicked off his new sponsorship partnership with Bass Pro Shops with a victory.

On November, 1st Bass Pro Shops and JR Motorsports announced that Berry would carry the iconic brand on his No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro in 11 races next year in the Xfinity Series.

While it was elation for Berry, Fryar came up just shy in the runner-up spot and he says it was all about handling in the closing laps.

“Just needed to handle a little better,” Fryar said. “When we put tires on, we got a little tight in the corner and I just couldn’t get into the corner — could get off the corner just couldn’t get into the corner as hard as I needed to to be as good or as deep into [Turn] 3. All-in-all good night. Strategy kind of played out there a little better than I expected.”

Jared Fryar was too tight on entry on new tires to fend off Josh Berry at the end of the Thanksgiving Classic

P2 pic.twitter.com/2GZftYU6gn

— Matt Weaver (@MattWeaverRA) November 28, 2022

Behind Berry and Fryar were Kaden Honeycutt, Deac McCaskill, and RFK Racing crew chief Matt McCall would round out the top-five finishers

While a fifth-place finish would leave most drivers somewhat satisfied in a packed field like Sunday’s, Matt McCall was there for one reason — to win.

“It sucked. We finished fifth,” McCall joked to Matt Weaver of Racing America. “I just didn’t do a good job on restarts. I just didn’t put myself in a spot to be able to outrun Josh. I don’t know if we could have kept up anyway, obviously, his car is really fast.”

Matt McCall did not come here to run fifth pic.twitter.com/PGYJRv6MVW

— Matt Weaver (@MattWeaverRA) November 28, 2022

Berry’s JR Motorsports teammate Carson Kvapil finished the race in sixth, while Carter Langley, Conner Jones, Justin Johnson, and Chase Burrow capped off the top-10 finishers.

NASCAR Xfinity Series competitor Jeb Burton came home in 11th.

Connor Hall, who had high hopes as he started from the pole in the event, saw his bid for the victory come to an end after a questionable spin that looked like it was on purpose, followed by an alternator that went bad on his race car.

The race had a strange moment as a crash involving Jonathan Findley and Daniel Vulcannon led to a physical brawl between the two drivers on the track, which caused the race to burn more laps under caution, 10 laps total, in the late stages of the event.

However, the two were finally separated and the race was able to finish under green.

Here are the complete race results for the 2022 Thanksgiving Classic at Southern National Motorsports Park: