Photo Credit - Crystal Clay
By Adam Carabine
What initially looked to be a sweet homecoming for Las Vegas native Noah Gragson, the Alsco Uniforms 302 was won by Josh Berry, punching his ticket into the Championship Four.
The first race of the Round of 8 in the NASCAR Xfinity Series was relatively tame, as far as attrition. In fact, winner Josh Berry might’ve been on the receiving end of the worst of it (though he was quick to admit that it was mostly his fault).
“AJ [Allmendinger] left me just a lane, and nothing more. We were a little bit tight off of [turn] 4 all day and it just ran out of real estate.”
Despite a healthy slap from the wall, his car was no worse for wear, and he cruised to victory on Saturday afternoon at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Noah Gragson led 87 laps, was up front all day, and was visibly frustrated with his P2 finish.
“We were leading by seven seconds, had a restart, and the 10 stayed out for whatever reason, went all the way from the bottom to the top, and really killed our run. Unfortunate, but at this point what do you expect.”
Justin Berry knew he had a good car and was able to capitalize on the situations around him. “We had a little bit of a hiccup on the first pit stop, got back to 17th, and the path just cleared for me, I just made all the right decisions. I had an amazing restart, I think I gained 6 or 7 spots right off the bat, that kind of just gave us the momentum throughout the rest of the race.”
With Josh Berry clinching his spot in the Final 4, that puts Austin Hill, AJ Allmendinger, Brandon Jones and Sam Mayer all currently on the outside looking in.
Berry said, “It’s a great feeling, this is the home run when you start this Round of 8 and win the first race. You give yourself two weeks to prepare for Phoenix, it’s a great opportunity.”
“I’ll let the rest of those guys figure out how they get in, because I’m already in,” he added with a big smile.