With roughly 100 laps to go in the SRS Distribution 250 at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday afternoon (May 21), it looked like JR Motorsports was in for a banner day for the organization — but then it all went away.
JRM had won the past three NASCAR Xfinity Series events heading into Texas via wins by Noah Gragson at Talladega Superspeedway, Josh Berry at Dover Motor Speedway and Justin Allgaier at Darlington Raceway. So the organization had the opportunity for a four-peat for the first time in its 18-year history.
Gragson fired off the race with an early lead after winning the pole, and the other four JRM entries —including William Byron in his first start in the part-time No. 88 — quickly joined in on the fun. The opening 118 laps of the race were led by JRM, with all but Sam Mayer taking turns leading laps. It looked like the organization was about to lead every lap of a race for the first time since Kevin Harvick and Chase Elliott combined to lead every lap at Atlanta Motor Speedway in 2014.
Gragson and Allgaier swapped the lead back and forth in stage one, with the No. 9 Chevrolet taking the stage victory. When Gragson and Allgaier pitted during the stage break, Berry inherited the lead and led the next 46 laps, winning stage two and giving him the most laps led on the day. JRM put all five cars inside the top seven in the second stage.
But essentially all in a flash, JRM’s bid for a four-peat and a perfect race all went away. On the next restart, Allgaier pinched Berry down and Berry spun out into oncoming traffic.
Big trouble for the leaders in Texas! https://t.co/f4TRzXnoX8 pic.twitter.com/cPma3ibVmS
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) May 21, 2022
Gragson was caught up in the wreck, and though he kept going, a flat tire 10 laps later ended his day.
“I’m fine, just self-inflicted there,” Gragson told FOX Sports 1. “We lost spots on pit road both times down, and you’re in a different position than if you maintained. … I guess the…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Frontstretch…