The first NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs appearance for Josh Berry has met some early grief after a first-lap accident in the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.
Berry, driving the No. 21 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Wood Brothers Racing, snapped around while on the inside of Tyler Reddick in the second corner, crashing hard into the outside wall.
16 enter, but only one can be champion.
The #NASCARPlayoffs kick off now with the #Southern500 at @TooToughToTame but there’s trouble early! pic.twitter.com/eTBDcitTb5
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 31, 2025
The Hendersonville, Tennessee-native started the race inside the top-five after a stellar qualifying run, meaning that the entire field had to avoid the spinning Berry, and with that came some problems.
Another NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs driver, Tyler Reddick, was clipped in the left-rear when trying to sneak by on the outside and did a mind-boggling job of not crashing his No. 45 Pinnacle Toyota Camry XSE.
Further in the back, outside of the top-20, Michael McDowell made contact with Kyle Busch, spinning the No. 8 Morgan & Morgan Chevrolet on the backstretch. Several other drivers, including Derek Kraus, Daniel Suarez, and Chris Buescher, also sustained some damage.
The significant damage to the Wood Brothers Racing machine forced Berry to drive his No. 21 Motorcraft / QuickLane Ford into the garage to work on his vehicle ahead of a long evening of racing at Darlington Raceway, a track that has traditionally featured some attrition. Berry is not OUT of Sunday’s Cook Out Southern 500, at this time.
The first-time post-season driver entered the evening sitting 13th in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff standings, with a one-point deficit to the cutline, which is currently held by his de facto teammate Joey Logano.
