Lucky 13 for Josh Berry at Martinsville

(MARTINSVILLE, VA – April 11, 2021 – RIS) The rain-interrupted Cook Out 250 NASCAR Xfinity race at Martinsville was 'lucky 13' for Josh Berry, the winner, in his 13th career series start. Second place finisher Noah Gragson won the Dash for Cash $100,000 bonus.

The rain delayed Cook Out 250 NASCAR Xfinity Series race got off about a half hour late with Harrison Burton and Justin Allgaier on the front row. Jade Buford brought out the first caution after only four laps for a simple spin in the first turn. AJ Allmendinger 

At the competition caution, Burton led Allmendinger and Cindric then Cindric took second away from Noah Gragson but Harrison Burton was running almost a mile per hour quicker than anyone else in the field. Gragson used the inside line to take second and start chasing Burton but a caution came out on lap 41 for a spin by Stefan Parsons.

Michael Annett wheel hopped into turn one and spun, causing the fifth caution in the race, still in the first stage. A spin and traffic jam brought out a yellow two laps before the stage ended, then rain started falling, putting off the finish of the race until noon on Sunday.

Under sunny April skies on Sunday, Daniel Hemric led from the green , staying out for the caution when Josh Williams spun with a flat left-rear and went on to take the stage win.

AJ Allmendinger's crew managed to repair a sway bar bolt problem during the yellow flag laps before the start, then he lucked into a free pass at the caution for Williams and got back on the lead lap after going down two laps on Friday. 

Tommy Jo Martins stayed out to lead the field at the restart but Josh Berry quickly took the lead, then the caution flew when Kyle Weatherman shoved Colby Howard into a spin and backed into the wall. 

Brandon Gdovic received a tap from Jeremy Clements leading to a tenth caution.

Berry held thei inside line while Austin Cindric opted for the outside line at the restart marker, allowing him to take second place ahead of Justin Haley and Harrison Burton. 

Gray Gaulding bumped Joe Graf, pushing him into Blaine Perkins' car, spinning both Graf and Perkins to bring out a late caution. The leaders took this opportunity to call in the pits for a last fresh set of tires with Bayley Currie and Stefan Parsons heading the restart, having stayed out instead of stopping. Josh Berry wasted little time in retaking the lead, followed by Ty Gibbs. Austin Cindric's outside line choice backfired and he dropped several positions before finally getting to the inside line in eleventh place with 60 laps to go in the race.

Ty Gibbs moved around Berry for the lead, marking the third race he has led in the series, out of the three races he has run. With 45 laps left, Alex Labbe lost in a three-wide with Myatt Snider and Brian Gdovic, spinning for the twelfth caution.

Josh Berry and Noah Gragson both got around Ty Gibbs to take the top two positions, moving out to over a second ahead of Gibbs.

Josh Berry took his career first Xfinity victory, ahead of Noah Gragson, Daniel Hemric, Ty Gibbs and Brandon Jones. Sixth place finisher Austin Cindric had looked like a challenger for the win but a late restart in the wrong lane dropped him out of contention. "We picked right up where we left off Friday night," said Cindric. "We had a great Menards Richmond Ford Mustang. I can't help but think today was a missed opportunity with the way things shook out. There were some slower cars that took up the first few rows on one of the final restarts after we got a set of tires and I chose the wrong lane, got caught behind the wrong guys and lost a lot of spots. That pretty much buried us and we were able to drive back up through but not enough. I thought we were good enough to contend for a win today and I think we showed that but you have to have the track position here. I am a little disappointed but it was good to have a fast race car at an important track in the playoffs."

Apparently, a post-race confrontation between Joe Graf and Gray Gaulding resulted from their contact earlier in the race. 

"It's kind of bittersweet to be honest with you," said third-place finisher Hemric. "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. Somebody checked up in the middle of one and two – knocked the hood up and I couldn't see once I got within a half-a-car of somebody. It took me probably too long to get used to that and we finally started making progress and got up there with better cars."

TY GIBBS, No. 54 AutosByNelson.com Toyota Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing

Finishing Position: 4th

How was your race overall?

"We were just a little tight. I messed up there at one point, it was my fault. Then I hit the 9 (Noah Gragson), we were dorking around there for a little bit. After I hit him and got kind of loose, it killed my momentum and kind of made me a little tighter. My fault. But overall, decent day, led laps. I feel like if I hadn't hit him and knocked the nose in, we probably could have maybe got a third or a second or maybe even a first. Can't complain. Had a good day and learned a lot today. It was a good time and Martinsville is fun. It tested my patience out."