Berry captures his first NASCAR Xfinity Series win at Martinsville

Josh Berry held off his JR Motorsports (JRM) teammate in Sundays’ rain-delayed NASCAR Xfinity Series(NXS) Cook Out 250 race at Martinsville Speedway. Berry, who is running a partial schedule for JRM, led four times for 95 laps in his No. 8 JR Motorsports Chevrolet en route to his first NXS career win and a grandfather clock trophy.

“Oh, gosh, I have so many people I could thank I could be here until tomorrow morning,” Berry said after the race. “Just Dale, L.W. (Miller), Kelley, everybody for believing in me, everyone on this No. 8 team.

“Man, they’ve been through a lot the last couple of years. Had a ton of different drivers. Man, I wanted to win so bad for these guys. They’re such a great group. I knew this would be a good opportunity to win. (Crew chief) Taylor (Moyer) called a perfect race. The car was good, and we just kept tweaking on it. The tires were pretty worn out there at the end. I was struggling a little bit with wheel-hop.

“This is just unbelievable.”

The race was stopped on Lap 91 of 250 laps on Friday night. The remainder of the race was postponed until Sunday at noon ET due to persistent rain.

JRM teammate Noah Gragson won stage one and finished second. With the runner-up finish, Gragson captured a $100,000 payday for being the top finisher among the four eligible drivers for the Dash 4 Cash bonus.

“One hundred thousand dollars richer,” Gragson said. “I’m pumped up. Great 1-2 finish for our team at JR Motorsports.”

Other dash participants Harrison Burton finished seventh as Justin Allgaier finished ninth and AJ Allmendinger finished 13th. Berry and Gragson will advance to the next round at Talladega Superspeedway on April 24 along with Daniel Hemric and Brandon Jones.

Hemric won stage two and finished third, Ty Gibbs placed fourth and Jones rounded out the top five.

“This Poppy Bank Toyota Supra was so fast and it was cool to get that second stage win. Dave Rogers (crew chief) and the guys are bringing incredible cars to the race track,” said Hemric.

Burton started on the pole and led 53 laps before the race was halted.

“I thought we were going to win the race, and it just got away from everybody.” said Burton. “Tough day. You have high expectations any time you go back somewhere you’ve won in the past.”

The NASCAR Xfinity Series heads to Talladega Superspeedway on April 24 at 4 p.m. ET with coverage by FOX, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

NASCAR Xfinity Series Race Number 7
Race Results for the Cook Out 250 – Friday, April 9, 2021
Martinsville Speedway – Martinsville, VA – 0.526 – Mile Paved
Total Race Length – 250 Laps – 131.5 Miles