Josh Berry passed JR Motorsports teammate Christian Eckes to take the lead on lap 142 of Saturday night’s 200 lap Fall Brawl at Hickory Motor Speedway and never looked back as he went on to score the win.
“He held strong with me, he was pushing the whole time,” Berry said. “I was worried about a late race caution bunching us back up but luckily we were able to hold on and ride it out at the end. We’ve had an amazing season and got us another win and an awesome trophy.”
Berry was riding around in the first half of the race, saving tires until the halfway break. He began making his charge about a quarter of the way into the second half of the race. Berry went on to score the win, his ninth Hickory Motor Speedway victory of 2016.
“Tire management was a big factor in the first half,” Berry explained. “There was no point to leading really, so I just tried to manage it. At the break, our lefts looked good so we put brand new rights on it, made a few adjustments and the car was where we needed it to be the last half.”
Berry’s teammate, Christian Eckes, finished second.
“He was really fast,” Eckes remarked. “I thought we saved tires enough but, apparently, Josh saved a little more than me and he was better. He could run the bottom or the top or wherever and he would still be fast. It’s just part of it.”
Both drivers will compete in the CARS Late Model Stock Tour race at Hickory next Saturday.
Austin McDaniel finished third while Jeremy Burns and Evan Swilling rounded out the top-five.
