You couldn’t have written a more horrendous start to Josh Berry’s first career NASCAR Cup Series Playoff run than what has transpired in real life.
Berry, who crashed in Turn 1 on the opening lap of last week’s Playoff-opening race at Darlington Raceway, will begin the Round of 16 of the Playoffs with back-to-back last-place finishes as he crashed hard on Lap 36 of Sunday’s Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway.
The incident was triggered by contact with Chase Elliott as Berry was in the middle of a three-wide battle with Elliott and Joey Logano in Turn 2.
Contact with Chase Elliott sends Josh Berry into the wall and brings the second caution of the day. ?
? USA Network pic.twitter.com/3QhRXBcZPQ
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) September 7, 2025
The contact sent Berry spinning, and he collided driver’s side first into the outside SAFER barrier, which ripped the left front wheel and suspension on his No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse.
Here is a look at the contact between Elliott and Berry, which started the crash, from both drivers’ onboard cameras.
We take a closer look at what happened to @joshberry on Lap 36. #NASCARPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/tbWIUkE7yX
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) September 7, 2025
Berry lamented what has been a rough start to his first-career Playoff appearance following a stop inside the infield care center.
“It’s just been a tough couple of weeks for the Motorcraft/ Quick Lane Ford Mustang,” Berry said. “I feel like we have had decent cars. We’ve just had issues. Today, you pit there and it’s just a chaotic restart. You’re just trying to wait for everything to settle out.”
While it was contact from Elliott that led to his day ending early, Berry didn’t feel there was any malicious intent behind the move from the Hendrick Motorsports driver.
“[Chase Elliott] got in there, got a little loose, and just slid up and he got into us. Obviously, I don’t think that was intentional or anything. It was just a racing deal,” Berry explained. “And unfortunately, we were just on the receiving end.”
While it was another sad exit from the race for Berry, the formula for advancement into the Round of 12 of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs will be simple for Berry and the No. 21 team next weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway.
The driver and team will need to snag their second win of the 2025 season if they hope to continue chasing the Bill France Cup this year.
