While battling A.J. Allmendinger for the lead, Berry hit the wall in Turn 4 on Lap 168 of 301 but Berry was able to hang on and clear Allmendinger for the lead.
Berry then had to fend off a late charge by his JR Motorsports teammate, Noah Gragson, and cleared him by 1.125 seconds at the checkered flag for the victory.
With the win, Berry automatically advances to the series’ Championship 4 regardless of his performance in the next two races and will compete for the 2022 title at Phoenix Raceway.
The win is Berry’s third of the season, his first competing fulltime with JRM.
“I was a little bit tight in Turn 4 the whole time. He (Allmendinger) left me a lane but nothing extra,” Berry said of his late-race battle for the lead. “But I wasn’t letting off. This was for a trip to Phoenix. I was willing to hit the wall and have a flat tire or whatever for these guys.
“These guys have done such a great job all year. We’ve had a tough couple weeks and months but we knew we do this if we were at our best.
“We had a caution with (34) to go and I was able to wrestle the lead away from those guys and build enough gap to keep it. I’m just speechless.”
Justin Allgaier finished, giving JRM a 1-2-3 finish. Ty Gibbs was fourth and Trevor Bayne rounded out the top-five.
Completing the top-10 were Austin Hill, Sam Mayer, Daniel Hemric, Brandon Jones and Anthony Alfredo.
With two races remaining in the semifinal round of the playoffs, the four drivers lowest in points and in danger of missing the Championship 4 are Mayer, Jones, Allmendinger and Hill.
Stage 3
Following the break between Stages 2 and 3, the lead-lap cars all pit with Hill first off pit road. Both Hemric and Bayne had safety violations during their pit stops and had to restart from the rear of the field.
On the restart on Lap 97, Hill was followed by Jones, Gragson, Allgaier and Gibbs.
Jones quickly powered to the lead on the restart.
Berry grabbed the lead from Jones on the high side exiting Turn 4 on Lap 101.
With 75 laps remaining, Gragson was right behind Berry battling for the lead as Gibbs had driven back up to third.
On Lap 132, Gragson was finally able to work his way around Berry in Turns 1 and 2 to reclaim the lead.
With 62 laps to go, Hill became the first of the lead-lap cars to make their final green-flag pit stops for new tires and fuel to make it to the finish of the race. Bayne followed on the next lap.
Gragson, the leader at the time, dropped…
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