Race Weekend Central

Josh Berry Wins at Las Vegas, Locks Into Xfinity Championship Race at Phoenix

Josh Berry won the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Saturday (Oct. 15), becoming the first driver to lock himself into the championship race at Phoenix Raceway.

Berry went after AJ Allmendinger for the lead on lap 168 and ended up hitting the wall exiting turn 4. Despite the wall contact, Berry was able to clear Allmendinger and lead the rest of the way to claim his second consecutive fall race victory at Las Vegas.

“I was a little bit tight off of (turn) 4 the whole time,” Berry told NBC Sports. “He left me a lane but nothing extra, but I wasn’t letting off. That was for a trip to Phoenix. I was willing to hit the wall and have a flat tire or whatever. These guys have done such a great job all year. We’ve had a tough couple of weeks, couple of months, but we knew we could do this when we were at our best.

“Today was funny, the car took off really, really well for 20 to 30 laps, then we felt tight. Just had a caution with 30 to go and was able to wrestle the lead away from those guys and build enough gap to keep it. I’m just speechless.”

It’s the No. 8 JR Motorsports driver’s third win of the year.

JRM swept the first three positions, as Noah Gragson finished second and Justin Allgaier took home third. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Ty Gibbs and Trevor Bayne rounded out the top five.

Bayne appeared to have fainted after getting out of the car. He later spoke with NBC Sports and said after he got out of the car his “left ear was ringing” and he “knocked the crush panels out” of the car.

Austin Hill was sixth, Sam Mayer finished seventh and Daniel Hemric came home eighth. Brandon Jones and Anthony Alfredo completed the top 10.

See also
Full-Time Career Over, Kurt Busch's NASCAR Future Full of 'Different Possibilities'

Allmendinger had to pit after the last restart due to two loose right-side tires. He finished two laps down in 22nd.

Some other drivers had mechanical issues during the race: Ryan Sieg had a steering issue, while Sheldon Creed and JJ Yeley both had engine problems. All of these troubles happened in stages one and two.

There was only one caution Saturday outside of the stage breaks. That came when Jones got sideways in turn 2 with about 40 laps left.

Xfinity Results From Las Vegas

Allgaier is 15 points above the cut line over Hill. Allmendinger is now 16 points below the cut line.

Xfinity teams will now head to Florida next Saturday, Oct. 22 for the Contender Boats 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Television coverage begins at 4:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.

About the author

Joy joined Frontstretch in 2019 as a NASCAR DraftKings writer, expanding to news and iRacing coverage in 2020. She's currently an assistant editor and involved with photos, social media and news editing. A California native, Joy was raised as a motorsports fan and started watching NASCAR extensively in 2001. She earned her B.A. degree in Liberal Studies at California State University Bakersfield in 2010.

Sign up for the Frontstretch Newsletter

A daily email update (Monday through Friday) providing racing news, commentary, features, and information from Frontstretch.com
We hate spam. Your email address will not be sold or shared with anyone else.

3 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
TCinAZ

I’m sure Harrison’s loves the Tire Pro livery.

Tom B

Phil, you have to manage everything.

Tom B

Where did Josh’s speed come from at the end of the race?
I wrote him off after qualifying. This is why we have the race.

Share via