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Josh Berry kept his CARS Tour Late Model Stock championship hopes alive on Saturday night with a victory in the Race to Remember 250 at Concord Speedway in North Carolina.

It was his fourth victory of the season.

It was the final salvo of a dramatic turn of events, because while Berry won, both of the drivers ahead of his in the championship standings each suffered problems during the 125-lap race. His JR Motorsports teammate, Anthony Alfredo, entered the race in a tie with Layne Riggs for the points lead but crashed out with Jared Fryar on Lap 93.

Then, Riggs spun with 12 laps to go.

Meanwhile, Berry outdueled Brandon Grosso on the ensuing restart and pulled away to score the biggest win of his season. He led the most laps but had to hold off several Late Model Stock notables for 65 laps and seven restarts after taking the lead on Lap 60.

“I just got a really good restart on the top there,” Berry said about his duel with Grosso. “Honestly,  I watched the Super race (earlier in the night) and the outside seemed to be pretty good. I felt pretty good where I was at because it’s so hard to get a run on the bottom.”

But Berry couldn’t get over the seven restarts and the battles he had with Austin McDaniel throughout the middle stages of the race.

“I was able to carry the momentum on the outside and it seemed like the next 100 restarts that Austin was able to roll the bottom and get to my door,” Berry said. “We could just never get clear enough, and when I got clear and caught my breath, that’s when the caution would come out again.

“And man, it’s so tough and I can’t put into words how tough these restarts are. Nine out ten restarts, you can be perfect but it seems like you always get remembered for that one that doesn’t go your way. I was just trying to be perfect and do my job.”

This was Berry’s record-extending 12th career victory in CARS Tour competition.

The victory, combined with the results of the race, has created a three-way championship battle heading into the final race on October 14 at South Boston Speedway.

  1. Layne Riggs Ldr.
  2. Josh Berry -1
  3. Anthony Alfredo -9

“We did our job and I didn’t do my part last time out at Hickory for the points,” Berry said. “But I’m not going to go down without a fight. We’re going to get after it and we’re going to give it all we got at South Boston.”

Deac McCaskill scored the pole in knockout qualifying but started from the rear due to issues founding after the session. He finished third behind Berry and Grosso. Tommy Lemons Jr. and Cody Haskins completed the top-5.

The complete results can be found below.

  1. Josh Berry
  2. Brandon Grosso
  3. Deac McCaskill
  4. Tommy Lemons, Jr.
  5. Cody Haskins
  6. Austin McDaniel
  7. Craig Stallard
  8. Layne Riggs
  9. Terry Brooks, Jr.
  10. Ryan Repko
  11. Bradley McCaskill
  12. Ty Gibbs
  13. Chris Davis
  14. Ronald Hill
  15. Andrew Garcia
  16. Jared Fryar
  17. Anthony Alfredo
  18. Chris Hudspeth
  19. Justin Carroll
  20. Evan Swilling
  21. Danny O’Quinn

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Matt Weaver is the owner and founder of Short Track Scene. Weaver grew up in the sport, having raced himself before becoming a reporter in college at the University of South Alabama. He also has extensive experience covering NASCAR, IndyCar and Dirt Sprint Cars.

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