Matt Weaver
Josh Berry led the final 16 laps on Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway en route to his maiden NASCAR Cup Series victory.
He also delivered Wood Brothers Racing its 101st win at the highest level.
“I don’t even know what to think,” Berry told FS1 after just his fifth start with the Wood Brothers. “Just awesome. I love this track. Las Vegas has been so good to me. I’ve had so many great moments here.”
His second Xfinity Series win came here in 2020.
Berry has consistently run around the top-5 all season but this one required a little bit of fortune. He was just short on fuel and was needing to save when the final caution came out with 25 laps to go.
Everyone came down pit road, he topped off and drove off pit road second on sticker tires behind Daniel Suarez.
It took a prolonged side-by-side battle but Berry prevailed and drove to the win by 1.358 seconds over the Trackhouse No.99.
There was contact.
“Yeah, a little disappointed,” Suarez said. “But first of all, congratulations to the 21 team and Josh. They did a great job. They’ve been fast lately. They’ve been in contention. So congratulations to them.
“We did everything right, you know? The team did an amazing job on the strategy, pit stops. We did everything right. Our car was fast. We just struggle a little bit in the short run. I mention to my crew chief just a little bit ago, before the last run, I told him, Hey, we want to be up front, I need a little bit better short run. I am having too much contact in one and two.
“Unfortunately I feel like that’s why we lost the race, just a little bit too much contact. I mean, I almost wrecked in one and two.”
Berry had some adversity to overcome too.
He overcame a loose wheel that forced him to come back down pit road at Lap 172. In hindsight, being forced off strategy is what allowed them to win the race when the final caution came out.
“But Miles and this whole 21 team, everybody at Wood Brothers Racing, they gave me a great car today,” Berry said. “Just battled and battled and battled. Man, it was our day. I just can’t believe it.
“Such a battle with Daniel there at the end, beating and banging on a mile-and-a-half, crazy. Whoever was going to get out front was probably going to win. We were able to get in front.”
Amongst those who were contending for the win on the primary strategy was Kyle Larson, William Byron and Austin Cindric.
Christopher Bell, seeking a fourth consecutive win, suffered a myriad of problems and ultimately finished 12th.
Results
- Josh Berry
- Daniel Suarez
- Ryan Preece
- William Byron
- Ross Chastain
- Austin Cindric
- Alex Bowman
- AJ Allmendinger
- Kyle Larson
- Chase Elliott
- Brad Keselowski
- Christopher Bell
- Chris Buescher
- Justin Haley
- Joey Logano
- Michael McDowell
- Chase Briscoe
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Riley Herbst
- John Hunter Nemechek
- Ty Dillon
- Ty Gibbs
- Zane Smith
- Tyler Reddick
- Denny Hamlin
- Cole Custer
- Erik Jones
- Bubba Wallace
- Todd Gilliland
- Carson Hocevar
- Noah Gragson
- Austin Dillon
- Kyle Busch
- Shane Van Gisbergen
- Ryan Blaney
- Cody Ware
Playoff grid
Christopher Bell WWW
William Byron W
Josh Berry W
Tyler Reddick +45
Chase Elliott +45
Alex Bowman +42
Kyle Larson +38
Ryan Blaney +29
Joey Logano +22
Chris Buescher +19
Ross Chastain +14
Bubba Wallace +11
Denny Hamlin +8
Michael McDowell +3
John Hunter Nemechek +2
Ricky Stenhouse +2
—
Kyle Busch -2
Ryan Preece -14
Daniel Suárez -22
Chase Briscoe -22
Austin Cindric -23
Carson Hocevar -24
AJ Allmendinger -24
Todd Gilliland -25
Erik Jones -30
Ty Dillon -30
Riley Herbst -36
Justin Haley -37
Zane Smith -38
Brad Keselowski -42
Shane Van Gisbergen -43
Austin Dillon -44
Noah Gragson -56
Ty Gibbs -59
Cole Custer -68
