LUCAMA, N.C. :: Josh Berry visited Championship Auto Racing Series (CARS) Tour victory lane for the eighth time in his career and the fifth time this season, taking home the win in the Late Model Stock tour’s season finale at Southern National Motorsports Park. The win was anything but routine, though.

While it’s never surprising when the JR Motorsports driver from Hendersonville, Tennessee wins in a Late Model Stock car, it was a shock – even to Berry – as he rose from fifth on a lap 94 restart to the win.

“When that caution came out with 25 to go or 30 to go, I didn’t think we’d be standing here with a win,” Berry said. “We really weren’t too sure how good a car we had, honestly. We struggled this whole weekend, and we worked on our car. I thought we got it decent towards the end of practice, but you never know.”

The race started with a long green flag run until R.D. Smith spun on lap 94. While the leaders, particularly Jeff Oakley, set a quick pace at the front of the field, Berry was content to ride banking on using fresher tires at the end of the race to overcome a slower car.

This caution played into Berry’s strategy, as he had saved his tires and equipment after falling victim to using them up in the season opener at Southern National.

“The last time I was here, I burned the tires up pretty good racing with Deac,” Berry said. “I figured that the only way I was going to win was to have better tires than some of the other guys at the end. We really tried to pace ourselves at the beginning. They kind of pulled away, but then inched back towards us. You never know if they’re saving.”

“We were in the right lane, the bottom lane, for the restart,” Berry continued. “It helped a ton, I was able to get to third pretty quick. Deac [McCaskill] and the 11 [of Oakley] started beating and banging, and that helped me stay up there.”

Once in position for the win, Berry made a pair of bold moves to score the victory. First, he moved around McCaskill – a four-time track champion at Southern National – on the rarely-used outside line before muscling past Oakley for the lead.

“At that point, I was just trying to size up my move,” Berry said. “I was able to use the top a little bit, and then use the bottom to get by the 11.”

An added bonus of the victory came in the form of an owner’s championship for the JR Motorsports #88 team. While Berry did not race in the CARS Tour’s second event at Orange County Speedway due to an XFINITY Series appearance, Scott Bishop drove the car for that event. Their combined efforts outscored those of the series’ driving champion, Deac McCaskill.

“I didn’t realize it until Orange County that they even had such a thing,” Berry admits. “Then, after that, I started following it pretty closely and said we’ve got a shot at this.”

“I felt pretty good about it going into Hickory, and then Deac got me there at the end of Hickory. After that, honestly, I felt like it was a must-win to have a chance at that, because you know how good Deac is here. I figured if I won, Deac would run second.”

Deac would not run second, despite a strong car throughout the event, falling to seventh in the closing laps. Still, that was enough to earn him the 2016 CARS Late Model Stock Tour driver’s championship.

Layne Riggs finished second in the 125-lap event, followed by Christian Eckes, Chris Hudspeth, and Tommy Lemons, Jr.

UNOFFICIAL RESULTS

1. #88B Josh Berry
2. #99 Layne Riggs
3. #1 Christian Eckes
4. #28 Chris Hudspeth
5. #27 Tommy Lemons, Jr.
6. #11 Jeff Oakley
7. #08 Deac McCaskill
8. #24D Mason Diaz
9. #88 Chris Davis
10. #16S R.D. Smith
11. #42 Craig Stallard
12. #9 Bruce Anderson
13. #74 Ronald Hill
14. #1M Craig Moore
15. #17P Stacy Puryear