By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service
LAS VEGAS — It’s time to take the Wood Brothers seriously.
Josh Berry’s victory in Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway wasn’t a bolt from the blue like Trevor Bayne’s win in the 2011 Daytona 500.
It wasn’t a parting shot like Harrison Burton’s superspeedway victory in last summer’s Daytona race.
By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service
LAS VEGAS—Winning an intense battle against Daniel Suárez after a restart with 19 laps left, Josh Berry pulled away to a convincing victory in Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
The win was Berry’s first in the NASCAR Cup Series at a track where he won twice in a NASCAR Xfinity Series car. Berry is the fourth straight Wood Brothers Racing driver to pick up his first Cup win in the No. 21 Ford.
The opening round of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs wraps up Saturday night at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, and while Josh Berry missed this year’s playoffs, the 33-year-old rookie remains very much in contention for the Sunoco Rookie of the Year crown. “The Last Great Colosseum” is expected to be a competitive track for the driver of the No. 4 Bed Bath & Beyond Ford Mustang Dark Horse. A native of Hendersonville, Tennessee, Berry narrowly missed qualifying on the pole in his Cup Series debut on his home-state track’s concrete surface last March. From his second starting spot, he persevered through challenging tire-wear issues that affected the racing throughout the field that day, finishing 10th in the opening stage on his way to taking the checkered flag 12th. (more…)
● The NASCAR Cup Series has two remaining road course races in the 2024 season, with the historic Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International next up on the schedule. The field will tackle the serpentine 2.45-mile layout during Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen. For Josh Berry, who is contending for 2024 Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors, he will make his debut at the track in NASCAR’s premier series in Sunday’s event. The 33-year-old driver has two starts at Watkins Glen in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, his best finish of ninth earned in August 2022 for JR Motorsports after starting 17th and finishing the second stage in seventh. Berry’s second Xfinity Series appearance at Watkins Glen came in August 2023, when he started seventh and finished 20th.
The NASCAR Cup Series returns to Atlanta Motor Speedway this Sunday to kick off the 2024 playoffs. But for Josh Berry, this 1.54-mile superspeedway-like oval is grounds for redemption. In his second points-paying race in his rookie campaign earlier this spring, the 33-year-old driver qualified 14th for the Ambetter Health 400. Berry, who at the time had limited seat time in the NextGen car, maneuvered to eighth place by lap 250, eyeing a top-10 finish to kick off the season when he was collected in an on-track incident that ended his day early. He finished 29th. Berry also has cut laps in the Next Gen car at Atlanta in March 2023 when he filled in for an injured Chase Elliott. In that race – his second time ever in the NextGen car – he started 21st and managed to gain three spots before the checkered flag waved. While most would not consider this a significant gain, it does show that Berry has experience drafting and racing the new car on the new layout. (more…)
Sunday’s Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway marks the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series regular-season finale. It’s also the site of Josh Berry’s best finish this season, a third-place drive in the Goodyear 400 when the Cup Series first visited the quirky, 1.366-mile egg-shaped oval in May. Berry scored another third-place finish five races later in June at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon. Both were one spot shy of Berry’s career-best Cup Series finish of second, earned in only his sixth career start on April 2, 2023 at Richmond (Va.) Raceway. (more…)
The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series heads to the penultimate race of the regular season at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway this weekend, Saturday night’s annual Coke Zero 400. Josh Berry, driver of the No. 4 eero Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Stewart-Haas Racing, hits town 23rd in the driver standings, 99 points under the top-16 playoff cutline.
Next up for Josh Berry and the No. 4 Overstock.com Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing is Sunday’s FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, where he’s made two previous starts in the NASCAR Cup Series. The first came in 2021 as a substitute in the No. 7 entry for driver Corey LaJoie. Berry started 24th and finished 26th. He returned in 2023 in the No. 42 Legacy Motor Club entry and started 35th but saw his day end on lap 50 of the scheduled 200-lap race after being involved in an on-track incident. (more…)
After a two-week break from NASCAR Cup Series racing, Josh Berry heads to Richmond (Va.) Raceway, where the 33-year-old rookie is no stranger to speed.
CONCORD, NC (July 3, 2024) – Josh Berry, a five-time winner in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and a current Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate in the NASCAR Cup Series, will pilot the famed No. 21 Ford Mustang for Wood Brothers Racing in 2025. (more…)
