The Pocono 225 proved to be entertainment galore for the fans. Crashes, cautions, and overtakes were the norms for the day. Kevin Harvick’s next year replacement Josh Berry, who dominated the race by winning the first two stages failed to win the race in the end. However, he didn’t go down without making some noise.

Austin Hill celebrated yet another win in the Xfinity Series bringing him onto the second place in the leaderboard. Hill was positioned 11th at the beginning of the race and failed to make a huge impact in the first two stages. However, a gamble in the final stage made him steal the victory from Berry’s hands.

Josh Berry lost the race to Hill’s gamble

The race began with Josh Berry on the pole in a car which was performing well throughout the weekend. Berry was looking strong from the beginning of the race and managed to make a gap on the rest of the field. He managed to win the first stage with ease. However, he received a fair bit of challenge to the finish line from Justin Allgaier in the second stage.

However, Austin Hill’s gamble worked pretty well for him in the final stage. Hill was no way near the lead of the race in the first two stages. However, he took a gamble on the fuel strategy and decided to stay out in the final laps of the race. He received a penalty for speeding in the pit lane and started the final stage from the back of the field.

The only thing that could’ve worked for Hill was the leaders pitting under a green flag and that is exactly what he got. While the entire field pitted, it was Hill, Riley Herbst and Sam Mayer on the track. However, Joey Gase spun out of the race and it ended up causing a caution. This meant that Hill was on the second row at the restart.

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Hill took the lead of the race and Berry made his way through the field to challenge him. Another caution made the race go into overtime finish. The final lap saw some rough racing where Berry made contact first with Hill and then with Mayer. The impact of the contact made him crash into the wall on the corner and Hill ended up winning the race.

Yet another disappointing finish for Kevin Harvick’s replacement

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Josh Berry has been named as the replacement for the legendary Kevin Harvick at Stewart-Haas Racing for the next year. However, what is even more concerning for both Tony Stewart and Gene Haas is the performance of Berry.

In his 7-year-long Xfinity Series career, Berry has only managed to win five races. He is consistently scoring good points every race and finishing strong. However, the only problem he faces is converting a good race into a race win.

At the end of the day, it is the race wins that are going to win him championships. The competitive nature of NASCAR is demanding and a race driver needs to keep his composure to win a race. Next year, Berry will be sitting in a very important seat on the Cup Series field and it will be interesting to see how he adapts to the situation he is put in.

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