LONG POND, Pa. — Pole position. Most laps led. In contention for the win at the white flag. Josh Berry appeared primed for a sorely-needed visit to Victory Lane in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Pocono Raceway.
Instead, the driver of the No. 8 JR Motorsports Chevrolet took a trip to the infield care center, where he was evaluated and released after a cut tire on the final lap of NASCAR Overtime in the Explore the Pocono Mountains 225 sent him into the Turn 2 wall.
RELATED: Austin Hill prevails at Pocono | At-track photos
The chaotic extra stanza of racing saw Berry restart on the outside of the front row with a rear bumper full of Austin Hill’s Chevrolet. The shove slid Berry’s car high and out of the groove, allowing Hill to escape with the lead. Berry fought back to second place on the final circuit, returning a nudge to Hill’s rear bumper through Turn 1. Hill maintained position, though, and as Berry swerved right to tuck in behind Hill, Sam Mayer — Berry’s teammate — and filled the gap and instead got door-slammed by Berry.
That contact was enough to flatten Berry’s right-front tire, sending the No. 8 car into the Turn 2 SAFER barrier and relegating its driver to a 24th-place finish, one lap down. All that after leading a race-high 51 of 92 laps in search of his first victory of the 2023 season.
“Honestly, I was trying to time it off of one there where I can pass him into two, and honestly, just caught him faster than I expected,” Berry said. “And it kind of just got us all jammed up there, and then, yeah, tried to get away from him on the straightaway and just was a little late. Sam must’ve had a huge run. It was hard to tell … I knew he had a run, but I thought I covered it quick enough and obviously didn’t. But yeah, tough way to end for sure.”
Berry and the No. 8 team, led by crew chief Taylor Moyer, entered the contest 105 points to the good of the NASCAR Playoffs elimination line for the Xfinity Series, which now has seven races left in its regular season. They remain the highest-ranked team in points (sixth) without a victory, but Saturday resulted in Berry’s fifth finish of 17th or worse in the last six races.
The difference this week: Berry was plenty pleased with the speed his JRM group found despite the DNF.
“We had a really fast car, which is what we’ve been lacking all year,” he said. “So if we keep bringing cars like this to the race track, we’ll win plenty of times.”
This year marks Berry’s final season in the Xfinity Series, affirmed in June when he announced he will drive the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford beginning in 2024 as 2014 Cup champion Kevin Harvick retires. With a string of results worse than performance has indicated, Berry believes the momentum found this weekend will still translate into the home stretch ahead of the postseason title hunt.
“Obviously had a phenomenal car and really was in great shape there a couple times to get the win and just ultimately just got beat on the last restart,” Berry said. “But you know, wish we could have finished in the top five like we deserve.”