The last six Xfinity races at Dover have produced six different winners, and all of those six have gone on to the Championship 4 in their respective season. This year it’s Josh Berry who took the checkered flag in the Xfinity A-Game 200 Saturday, and he’ll be hoping to continue the pattern.
Berry said, “It’s just a great day,” especially considering it was so up-and-down: “Oh my gosh, I think if you watch that back, I looked like a weapon in the beginning. I kept trying to work to get better, and it’s just a credit to these guys. The pit crew did a phenomenal job today, they executed when we needed it, and we were there when it counted.”
He battled teammate Justin Allgaier in the final laps, and said, “Both times when I raced here I just went toe-to-toe with Justin, he is so good here. I thought he was out of it after the pit stop but then he got up to second and I thought ‘here we go again.’”
It wasn’t just a great day for Berry, though, but his entire Jr Motorsports team. For only the second time in the history of the Xfinity series, four cars from the same team finished in the top five, with the Joe Gibbs Racing the only other team to manage it. Justin Allgaier finished second, followed by Noah Gragson and Sam Mayer in fourth and fifth respectively.
“Yeah, it’s just disappointing when you kind of feel like you gave one away,” said Allgaier. “The string of bad luck that we’ve had, I feel like today was a good day. We’ll regroup and come back next week.”
He was happy to be a part of a great run for his team, though. “That last run there we felt like we were really good,” he said, “but this team, Jr. Motorsports, brings super, super fast Camaros here to Dover. 1, 2, 4, 5 with all four of our Camaros: I’m proud of our team.”
And it was also a Jr Motorsports driver to pick up the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus, as Noah Gragson beat out AJ Allmendinger in the race for the money finishing fourth. He’s the only one of the four winners not to finish third. He also ties Regan Smith the Xfinity Series record for most total Dash 4 Cash wins at five.
Asked how he’d spend the money, he said he’ll “give it to this number 9 Bass Pro Shops team: the pit crew, Luke Lambert, the rest of the boys: they work so hard. My share, we’ll divide it up and give it to them. Just so thankful, they sacrifice. Appreciate everybody back at Jr Motorsports, what a day for the entire company: four cars in the top five.”
It was Ty Gibbs who interrupted the Jr Motorsports cars with his third place finish. He said, “I felt like we hard a very fast Monster Energy Toyota Supra, my guys never gave up and they kept working. We were a little bit off there, I just feel like we needed to make a little more adjustments.”
One of only two Fords in the top ten, tenth-place finisher Ryan Seig said it was “a good day,” but “it was a struggle coming from the back here where it is super hard to pass. Especially when you are on the loose side like we were. We were hanging on most of the day and trying to pass people and it is tough here.”
Photos: NASCAR at Dover Motor Speedway Saturday Apr. 30, 2022
NASCAR Xfinity Series Race Results A-GAME 200
Dover Motor Speedway
Dover, Delaware
Saturday, April 30, 2022
(4) Josh Berry, Chevrolet, 200.
(7) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 200.
(5) Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 200.
(3) Noah Gragson, Chevrolet, 200.
(2) Sam Mayer, Chevrolet, 200.
(8) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 200.
(1) Brandon Jones, Toyota, 200.
(11) Sheldon Creed #, Chevrolet, 200.
(6) Riley Herbst, Ford, 200.
(38) Ryan Sieg, Ford, 200.
(17) Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet, 200.
(18) Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, 200.
(16) Brett Moffitt, Chevrolet, 200.
(20) Austin Hill #, Chevrolet, 200.
(10) Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, 200.
(13) Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, 200.
(23) Parker Retzlaff, Ford, 200.
(22) Brandon Brown, Chevrolet, 199.
(19) Alex Labbe, Chevrolet, 199.
(28) Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, 199.
(12) Chandler Smith(i), Toyota, 199.
(25) Myatt Snider, Chevrolet, 199.
(31) JJ Yeley, Toyota, 198.
(21) Kaz Grala(i), Chevrolet, 198.
(33) Josh Williams, Chevrolet, 197.
(26) Ryan Vargas, Chevrolet, 197.
(29) Kyle Weatherman, Chevrolet, 197.
(32) Joe Graf Jr, Ford, 196.
(24) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 195.
(30) Stefan Parsons, Chevrolet, 195.
(37) Matt Mills, Chevrolet, 195.
(35) Chad Finchum, Toyota, 194.
(36) Patrick Emerling, Chevrolet, 192.
(34) Mason Massey, Chevrolet, 191.
(27) David Starr, Ford, 189.
(14) Bayley Currey, Chevrolet, Engine, 154.
(9) John Hunter Nemechek(i), Toyota, Brakes, 83.
(15) Rajah Caruth, Chevrolet, Suspension, 58.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 104.091 mph.
Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 55 Mins, 17 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.604 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 5 for 36 laps.
Lead Changes: 7 among 5 drivers.
Lap Leaders: B. Jones 1-30;S. Mayer 31-48;J. Allgaier 49;B. Jones 50-53;T. Gibbs 54;B. Jones 55-79;J. Allgaier 80-145;J. Berry 146-200.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Justin Allgaier 2 times for 67 laps; Brandon Jones 3 times for 59 laps; Josh Berry 1 time for 55 laps; Sam Mayer 1 time for 18 laps; Ty Gibbs 1 time for 1 lap.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 1,7,8,19,18,54,16,9,98,2
Stage #2 Top Ten: 7,19,16,8,54,98,9,11,2,21
