Race report
NASCAR Cup North Wilkesboro All-Star Race
Berry, Gibbs and Gragson advance into NASCAR All-Star Race
Josh Berry, Ty Gibbs and Noah Gragson will join Sunday night’s field for the 2023 NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway.
Jim Utter
Edited: May 21, 2023, 10:41 PM
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Berry passed Gibbs – after Gibbs was door-slammed by Michael McDowell – with 22 of 100 laps remaining and held the rookie off by 0.571 seconds to take the victory.
Berry has been substituting for the injured Alex Bowman in the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.
“Man, I feel so relieved. These guys deserve to be in this race so bad,” Berry said. “Thanks so much to Hendrick Motorsports for believing in me and giving me this opportunity.
“This is really cool. Our car was solid. We were definitely better the second run. We got some help there from whatever happened with (McDowell). I don’t know what that was. That was pretty bad.
“I think the two best cars made it so we’ll just see what tonight gets us.”
As the second-place finisher, Gibbs also advanced to Sunday night’s main event. Fellow rookie Noah Gragson joined the field thanks to winning the Fan Vote.
Gibbs started on the pole thanks to his No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing team winning Friday’s pit crew competition.
He cleared quickly for the lead and through the first 20 laps had built a nearly 2.5-second over Berry as Haley ran third.
NASCAR displayed a competition caution on Lap 42, which sent all the lead-lap cars down pit road for new tires.
Berry was first off pit road with a four-tire stop while Burton took only two new rear tires. The race resumed on Lap 48 with Berry followed by Gibbs and Aric Almirola.
Gragson bounced off the inside wall on Lap 50 and slid back up the track and also collected Todd Gilliland, Chandler Smith and Ryan Newman.
The race returned to green on Lap 57 with Berry out front.
After contact with Gibbs, Michael McDowell and Justin Haley wrecked on Lap 57 to bunch the field up once again. It was Berry followed by Gibbs and Almirola on the restart.
Gibbs powered around Berry on Lap 68 to reclaim the lead as Preece moved into third.
On Lap 78, McDowell traded paint with Gibbs – who had run into him in a previous incident – which allowed Berry to get back around Gibbs for the lead.
With 10 laps remaining, Berry maintained about a half-second lead over Gibbs with Almirola close behind in third.
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