Josh Berry surprised a large portion of the NASCAR fanbase as he scored a win in just his fifth start of his tenure behind the wheel of the iconic No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse. However, since Berry picked up the win in the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, which served as his second consecutive top-five finish, the driver and team haven’t had much to write home about in terms of race results.
A sixth-place finish in the AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway in May has been the only other top-10 finish registered by Berry and the No. 21 team through the opening 24 races of the season.
Just looking at the box score would lead you to believe that Berry and the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing team have been out to lunch, but that simply hasn’t been the case. Berry and crew chief Miles Stanley have consistently had solid speed throughout the year, but luck and circumstances outside of their control have not been very kind.
However, as the driver and team attempt to build some momentum heading into the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, Berry heads into a track this weekend, Richmond Raceway, that he is very excited to return to.
“I’m excited,” Berry said about Saturday night’s Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway in a Wednesday media availability. “I think I’ve had some good runs there in the past in the Cup Series and the Xfinity Series. I feel like it should be a good opportunity for us to run well. Definitely a place that we’ve had circled for a while.”
If Berry is to have a good run on Saturday night, though, the driver knows he’ll likely have to overcome a poor starting spot. Berry will be the fourth of 38 drivers to take to the track in this week’s qualifying session by virtue of a subpar NASCAR performance metric score following a 35th-place result at Watkins Glen International. Due to the unideal qualifying order slot, Berry will likely be one of the slower drivers in qualifying, as Richmond typically builds speed in the track throughout a qualifying session.
“Obviously, the biggest thing we’re looking at now is the qualifying draw, and how that worked out, unfortunately,” Berry explained. “But we’re just going to have to make the most of that, probably get creative in the race to get some track position. But I feel like, if we have a good car, we should be up front.”
In addition to strategic calls, Berry says he expects his team to focus solely on in-race speed in practice rather than fighting the losing battle of trying to tune for qualifying speed this weekend. Berry feels that if he can nab a top-20 to top-25 starting spot, “we’d probably take it.”
For those looking to write off Berry as a potential winner of Saturday night’s race, you may not want to do that just yet. While a starting position is a crucial component to a good day at Richmond, where track position is so important, it’s not impossible to have a good run from deep in the field.
Berry has proven that fact himself, twice, as he’s battled back from the 30th starting spot in two of his three NASCAR Cup Series starts at the 0.750-mile short track. In 2023, Berry started 30th in relief of an injured Chase Elliott, and he clawed his way to a runner-up finish. A year later, Berry registered an 11th-place result from the 30th starting spot in the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang.
Regardless of where Berry starts on Saturday night, if he can avoid any potential calamity, he should have a shot at a really, really good finish.
