Berry, others recover from multi-car wreck to finish top-15
FORT WORTH, TEXAS — Attrition took several drivers out of contention to win Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series SRS Distribution 250 at Texas Motor Speedway but three drivers still recovered from the biggest incident of the day to finish inside the top-15.
Josh Berry, Ty Gibbs and Brandon Jones were each collected in a Lap 89 multi-car wreck in turn two. The restart wreck was set off by Berry getting loose while racing beneath Justin Allgaier for the lead at the start of the final stage.
Berry received damage from Matt Mills, who ran into the back of his car with nowhere else to go. Upon reviewing the damage, Berry’s team discovered the track bar was damaged and took several rounds out to avoid further damage.
In shades of his stage two win and 46 of the first 89 laps led, Berry drove back to the top-5 but experienced tight conditions several times while exiting the corner. Berry dropped back but still managed a seventh-place finish.
Ty Gibbs finished 12th after the Lap 89 wreck and a Lap 39 spin. The spin took him out of stage points in each stage and, as he neared the top-10 later, he sustained right-side and rear-end damage in the wreck. Still, Gibbs finished 12th as one of 24 lead-lap finishers Saturday.
Brandon Jones finished 14th after finishing fourth in stage one. Jones failed to earn stage points in stage two after being caught off-sequence. As he neared the top-10 in the final stage, Jones sustained significant front-end damage in the wreck.
Jones hung around the top 15 until crew chief Jeff Meendering left him on the track, in second, for a Lap 123 restart.
Jones held on for two quick restarts, then capitalized on the Lap 135 restart and took the lead from Austin Hill. Two laps later, Jones was passed by Tyler Reddick for the race’s final lead change – but he held on to a top-10 spot before falling to 14th during the final 22-lap green flag run.
Gibbs, Berry and Jones retained their regular-season points positions – in third, fifth and sixth, respectively. Each of them have won this season and are virtually locked into the NASCAR Xfinity Series playoffs.
