BROOKLYN, MI.: Josh Berry finished fourth in Saturday afternoon’s New Holland 250 at Michigan International Speedway, but the JR Motorsports driver probably had the fastest car in the 40-car field.
Berry was announced earlier this week as the substitute driver of the No. 1 Pilot Flying J Chevrolet Silverado, as Michael Annett continues to recover from a leg injury.
The change of driver sent Berry to the rear of the field for the start of the race, but the spring Martinsville Xfinity winner put on a show slicing and dicing his JR Motorsports car through the field.
By the end of Stage 1, Berry had muscled to ninth.
A penalty for a crew member over the wall sent the team to the rear of the field again.
The setback, however, may have been a blessing in disguise as a multi-car accident erupted at the front of the field collecting several of the pre-race favorites. Berry informed his team during the caution that they likely would have been involved in the crash, had they restarted without penalty.
Refocused, Berry set again a blistering pace, passing cars left and right and had re-entered the top-10 at the end of Stage 2 in eighth.
Happy with the balance of his race car, Berry bolted into the race lead in the early laps of Stage 3 where he kept his automobile through the halfway mark of the final stage.
Having to make a green flag pit stop, Berry with coaching from spotter Jason Jarrett had a flawless stop but found himself tracking down teammate Justin Allgaier who utilized a fuel-only approach to swipe the lead away from the No. 1 team.
In traffic, Berry was able to catch Allgaier back down and the two raced hard and clean until the yellow flag waved with 10 laps remaining.
On the restart, Berry found himself in a ferocious battle with AJ Allmendinger for the race lead and the No. 16 Chevrolet had just cleared Berry for the top spot as the caution came out again vaulting the field into NASCAR overtime.
Berry would have three attempts in overtime to try and wrestle his way back into the race lead, but with the top lane being preferred – Berry never had the track position or help to earn his second career Xfinity Series victory.
The Hendersonville, Tenn. native claimed fourth at Lap 139 behind Allmendinger, Brandon Jones and JRM teammate Noah Gragson to earn his fifth top-five of the 2021 season.
“I just couldn’t get the push behind me, but man it’s so hard to clear the bottom, the top gets formed up so good,” said Berry. “I kept trying the bottom, but probably should have taken the bottom on the last one (restart).
“It cooled off some, but man that long run we were flying. Just a great day for Pilot Flying J, everybody at JR Motorsports on this No.1 team, they have been working real hard.”
Berry that despite the minor changes in the handling of his race car he had the fastest car to win the race.
“(We) deserved the win today. Man, I feel like I ran fourth with the best car today.”
The 30-year-old Late Model sensation is pulling double duty this weekend.
Berry competed in Friday night’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at World Wide Technology Raceway, finishing 15th for Rackley WAR.
He’ll make his second career NASCAR Cup Series start in Sunday’s FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan. Berry is substituting for Corey LaJoie at Spire Motorsports who cannot compete because of NASCAR’s COVID-19 protocols.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
