By Seth Eggert, Staff Writer
In his first eNASCAR Saturday Night Thunder appearance, Josh Berry dominated his competition.
The driver of the No. 88 iRacing/All Things Automotive Chevrolet Camaro SS was unmatched throughout the 125-lap race. Berry briefly had to contend with NASCAR Xfinity Series drivers Landon Cassill and Anthony Alfredo with their alternate strategies at Richmond Raceway.
The JR Motorsports Solid Rock Carriers CARS Tour driver made quick work of Cassill, who took two tires late. Before Berry could open up a sizeable lead, his JRM Xfinity teammates Justin Allgaier and Jeb Burton were involved in an incident. While Berry, Cassill, and NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series’ Ty Majeski pitted, Alfredo stayed on track.
On old tires, it looked as if the Richard Childress Racing driver would be no match for Berry. A quick caution delayed the inevitable. As the race restarted for the final time on lap 111, Berry made quick work of Alfredo. While Berry pulled away, Alfredo battled Majeski. That allowed Berry to take the checkered flag with a 1.098 second margin of victory.
“It was a good race,” explained Berry. “I thought I was pretty good. It was really close, I thought it was going to come down to whoever had track position. On that one restart where a couple guys too two, Ty (Majeski) was in the wrong lane and lost a bunch of track position. That made the difference for me to get away.
“I did have a little short run speed compared to Ty (Majeski). I was able to get out front, run my own line. We were really close but ran different lines there. Mine seemed to work out front and I seemed to keep the right rear on it. Richmond’s always been a good track for me. I definitely wanted to be a part of it tonight and that was a lot of fun.”
The race behind Berry was much more hectic. Majeski finished second with Chase Cabre third and Ty Gibbs, who was in an early caution, fourth. One of the late cautions allowed Cassill to get on sequence with the leaders and finish fifth.
The final caution came as Landon Huffman battled Alex Labbe for position. The duo made contact on the backstretch, sending Huffman’s Total Advantage Motorsport No. 75 spinning.
Spacestation Gaming’s Will Rodgers finished sixth after his own wild night. His No. 55 Chevrolet was involved in several incidents including two that did not result in a caution flag.
Alfredo, who did not pit late, finished seventh. Kaz Grala, Logan Seavey, and Bayley Currey rounded out the top-10.
The Finish
1. Josh Berry [3], 2. Ty Majeski [2], 3. Chase Cabre [6], 4. Ty Gibbs [12], 5. Landon Cassill [1], 6. Will Rodgers [16], 7. Anthony Alfredo [4], 8. Kaz Grala [10], 9. Logan Seavey [13], 10. Bayley Currey [9], 11. Landon Huffman [8], 12. Derek Kraus [15], 13. Blake Koch [22], 14. Ruben Garcia Jr. [20], 15. Josh Bilicki [18], 16. Scott Stenzel [26], 17. Jeb Burton [14], 18. Cole Custer [11], 19. Michael McDowell [25], 20. Austin Cindric [24], 21. Brennan Poole [23], 22. Chase Briscoe [7], 23. Matt Mills [17], 24. Alex Labbe [5], 25. Justin Allgaier [19], 26. Ryan Truex [21].
Lead Changes: Five among three drivers.
Lap Leader(s): Landon Cassill 1-3, Josh Berry 4-83, Landon Cassill 84-89, Josh Berry 90-101, Anthony Alfredo 102-111, Josh Berry 112-125.
Laps Led: Josh Berry 106, Anthony Alfredo 10, Landon Cassill 9.
Hard Charger(s): Will Rodgers and Scott Stenzel (+10)
Cautions: Five for 25 laps.
Margin of Victory: 1.098 seconds.
Time of Race: 58 minutes, 42.156 seconds.
Average Speed: 95.822 mph
Fastest Qualifier: Landon Cassill 122.884 mph (21.972 seconds)