Berry picks up third career Xfinity win at Dover

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emailBy Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service | April 30, 2022 5:07 PM ET

Josh Berry answered a runner-up finish last year at Dover Motor Speedway with a victory Saturday in the A-Game 200 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at the track– holding off his JR Motorsports teammate Justin Allgaier by 0.604s.

Berry led the final 55 laps of the 200-lap race to claim his first win of 2022 and the third of his Xfinity Series career. His JR Motorsports team claimed four of the race’s top-five positions – the first time any team has done so since 2013. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Ty Gibbs was third followed by JRM drivers Noah Gragson and Sam Mayer.
Leader: 7⃣ ➡️8⃣ ➡️7⃣ ➡️8⃣@joshberry is now the leader at @MonsterMile. pic.twitter.com/2Yj8rAFrP8

— NASCAR Xfinity (@NASCAR_Xfinity)

Allgaier led a race-best 67 laps but was passed by Berry’s No. 8 JR Motorsports Chevrolet with 55 laps remaining. He rallied to his ultimate second-place finish after suffering a setback on a slow final pit stop. Berry returned to track with the lead on that re-start and Allgaier had to race forward from fourth place, getting as high as second but never having a true chance to make a pass for the win.

“I struggled a lot on the bottom on the restarts and just kept trying to work to get better. It’s just credit to these guys; the pit crew did a phenomenal job today. They executed when we needed it,’’ said the 31-year old Tennessee native, Berry. “And we were there when it counted.

“I went toe-to-toe with Justin Allgaier and he’s so freaking good here,’’ Berry added. “Gosh, I thought he was kind of out of it after that pit stop and then he was right back to second and I thought, ‘Here we go again.'”

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Allgaier, 35, a perennial championship contender, is looking for his first win since Darlington last May. This marked his fifth runner-up finish in that time and his best showing of 2022.

“Proud of our team. We wanted to get the car in victory lane, but with the string of bad luck I feel like today was a good day; just a little bit short,’’ said Allgaier, who had finished 20th or worse in four of the five races leading into Dover.

Gragson’s fourth place finish marked a solid end to a challenging day for the 23-year old and earned him his $100,000 bonus check in the Dash 4 Cash program.

“What a day for the entire company — four cars in the top-five and congratulations to Josh Berry for his win,’’ said Gragson, who added with a smile holding up the giant $100,000 cardboard Dash 4 Cash winner’s check, “My car was as fast as the Xfinity internet.’’

A.J. Allmendinger pulled his dinger out of the ringer and finished sixth but retains the championship lead by 43 points over both two-race winner Gragson and three-race winner Gibbs.

Mayer’s fifth place finish was impressive considering his eventful day. He won Stage 1 and then had a pit stop situation during the ensuing stop. His No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet lost a left rear tire and he ended up having to make an extra stop and eventually dropped back as far as 19th place before making his way forward again.

Saturday’s polesitter Brandon Jones rallied to a seventh-place finish after pit issues as well.

Richard Childress Racing’s Sheldon Creed was eighth – the highest finishing rookie with Riley Herbst and Ryan Sieg rounding out the top-10.

The series races next week at the historic Darlington Raceway in the Mahindra ROXOR 200 (Saturday, 1:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Allgaier is the defending race winner.

 

 

Elliott triumphs in NASCAR's rain-delayed Dover race

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emailBy Kelly Crandall | May 2, 2022 3:58 PM ET

Chase Elliott is winless in 2022 no more, prevailing on Monday in the rain-delayed NASCAR Cup Series race at Dover Motor Speedway.

Elliott led the final 53 laps after he was able to power by Ross Chastain on the bottom off the lap 348 restart. The Hendrick Motorsports driver had been battling Chastain for multiple laps before the caution, and the pair were side-by-side when the yellow flag flew. Chastain was deemed the leader, but Elliott wasted no time in doing away with him when the race restarted for the final time.

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“We had some good circumstances finally,” Elliott said. “I really appreciate Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) and our entire No. 9 Chevrolet team for just sticking with it. We’ve had some tough races over the last, I don’t know, four, five months. Just great to get Hendrick Motorsports back to Victory Lane.

“Just so proud. This one means a lot in a lot of different ways. Just appreciate all the effort. But thanks to all the fans for coming out. You’re always awesome. Hope to see this big crowd here next year. A huge thanks to everybody involved. It’s been a fun day, and we’re certainly going to enjoy it. Like I told them after the race – those guys, they’ve been deserving of one for a while. Glad we could get across the line first. We’ll enjoy it for a few days and go to work next week.”

The victory is Elliott’s second win at Dover (having previously won there in 201 and the first time he won on an oval since his 2020 championship season.

Elliott led a total of 73 laps.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished second, and Chastain faded to a third-place finish. Christopher Bell finished fourth, and Alex Bowman finished fifth.

Kyle Larson finished sixth. Larson rebounded from a flat tire that sent him spinning off Turn 4 in the second stage and damage to the hood.

Kyle Busch finished seventh after leading a race-high 103 laps. Busch lost his track position when having to take the wave around because of an untimely caution on lap 324, which was caused by a wheel coming off AJ Allmendinger’s car. Busch and Bowman had already pitted and never made it back into contention.

Pole-sitter Chris Buescher finished eighth. Buescher led the first 18 laps before the bulk of the race was pushed to Monday because of rain.

Kevin Harvick finished ninth, and Erik Jones completed the top 10.

Denny Hamlin won the first stage but finished 21st. The left front wheel came off Hamlin’s car under the caution for the stage break, which sent Hamlin to the rear of the field. He made it back to the fourth position and was running competitive lap times when he was collected in Cody Ware’s spin off Turn 4 on lap 242.

Ware spun off the corner and down the track, and Hamlin went low to try to avoid him. However, the rear of Ware’s car caught the right side of Hamlin’s and ripped it apart by the right rear wheel.

Stage 2 winner Ryan Blaney finished 26th. He’d stayed out under caution before the end of the stage to inherit the race lead and then was one of three drivers to pit at the end of the stage.

There were 17 lead changes among 10 drivers, and 13 cautions.

 

Delayed Dover smiles on Stenhouse

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emailBy Kelly Crandall | May 2, 2022 4:38 PM ET

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and JTG Daugherty Racing needed the kind of day Monday’s rain-delayed Cup Series race turned out to be en route to finishing second at Dover Motor Speedway.

The No. 47 team executed a clean race. Stenhouse didn’t lead a lap, but ran inside the top 10 all afternoon and earned points in the second stage by placing fifth. Dover is the most points (41) Stenhouse has earned in a race this season.

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“Man, it’s been a rough start to the season,” Stenhouse said. “Our short track program has been off. All of our other good races that we’ve had good runs going, something has always happened. Really good to put this all together. I felt like we had a car capable of winning, obviously getting off pit road at different times. My pit crew did a great job keeping us up front all day.

“This feels good. Hopefully, we can carry this momentum on. The big tracks, the tracks we’ve got coming forward, are really good tracks for us. That was a lot of fun. A lot of battling. It was tough to pass, but it was fun running through lapped traffic. I really wish we had, like, a 70-lap run to end there. All in all, our Kroger team is doing a great job, looking forward to carrying that momentum on.”

Dover is Stenhouse’s second top-10 finish of the season He entered the weekend 31st in the standings because of eight finishes of 27th or worse and four DNFs.

“Our team has been putting together really good race cars,” Stenhouse said. “A lot of our good races, we’ve had issues. We have been good on some of the bigger tracks. Our short-track program is definitely off a little bit, but it was an awesome day. We feel like we’ve been better than where we are right now as a race team. We’ve put a lot of fast race cars together, just haven’t had much to show for it. Really happy with this performance today.

“It was a tough battle out there. The track was tough. The cars were tough to drive. Our car was dialed in, and our pit crew did a fabulous job on pit road. Just came up one spot short.”

 

Chastain encouraged despite late fade at Dover

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emailBy Kelly Crandall | May 2, 2022 5:56 PM ET

Ross Chastain was in control of the Duramax Drydene 400 at Dover Motor Speedway going into the final restart, but his advantage didn’t last long.

Chastain was quickly dispatched of by Chase Elliott, who cleared him in Turns 1 and 2. Elliott drove away to his first win of the season while Chastain faded to a third-place finish.

“I’m racing with champions,” Chastain said, “and I got beat.”

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The race restarted for the final time with 54 laps to go. Before the caution that set up the final stretch to the finish, Chastain had been going wheel-to-wheel with Elliott lap after lap for the race lead. Chastain was deemed the leader over Elliott when the caution came out.

Chastain chose the outside lane for the final restart, which had routinely prevailed for the race leader throughout the afternoon. But Elliott was able to power by and drove away, ending any battle for the win.

Nevertheless, Monday was another strong showing for Chastain and the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing team. Although he missed out on a third win, Chastain led 86 laps and placed inside the top 10 in both stages (fourth and sixth).

“Super-proud of this effort,” Chastain said. “I thought we were a fifth-place car, and a couple guys had misfortune with the cautions coming out, and that cycled us to the lead. The pit crew was incredible today. They were just picking up spots every stop and got us the lead.”

Chastain, crew chief Phil Surgen and the team have been performing at an incredible level since the season’s third race. After putting two tough weekends at Daytona and Fontana behind them (where they finished) 40th and 29th, Chastain has two wins in the last nine races and seven top-five finishes.

In that nine-race stretch, Chastain has led 243 laps. He led 42 laps in all of 2021.