Josh Berry capitalizes on Team Penskes strengths at Phoenix
Today at 09:26 PM
Whenever Team Penske cars enter the Sonoran Desert, each of its drivers are forces to be reckoned with at Phoenix Raceway. As Chase Elliott explained last weekend, Penske is the standard at the 1-mile oval.
Via Wood Brother Racing‘s technical alliance with Team Penske, avid short-track racer Josh Berry had his first chance to win at Phoenix while driving elite equipment during Sunday‘s Shriners Children‘s 500.
The weekend started off strong when Berry turned in a fourth-place qualifying effort on Saturday. The No. 21 Ford remained inside the top 10 for the duration of the opening stage, collecting five stage points with a sixth-place effort in Stage 1.
While making a pit stop during a caution period in Stage 2, the No. 21 team had an issue with the left-rear wheel, which dropped Berry outside the top 30. He charged hard on restarts, still earning a stage point in the second stage.
"We were able to fight back up there and had some really good restarts," Berry told reporters at Phoenix. "I felt like myself again. It is amazing what you can do when the car is handling like that. It was really solid and staying underneath me."
The majority of teams had mixed strategies throughout the final stage. Some chose to hold off on putting their option tire — a softer compound — on until the closing laps. Other teams, like Ryan Preece‘s No. 60 bunch and even a pair of Berry‘s quasi-teammates in Austin Cindric and Joey Logano, were at a deficit later in the race by using one of their two sets earlier in the event to collect stage points.
Berry‘s crew chief Samuel Stanley held off using the two sets until later in the race. And by continuously gaining spots on restarts, Berry kept leaping up on the leaderboard.
When Ty Gibbs had a brake rotor explode late in the race, setting up a two-lap dash to the checkered flag, Berry was inside the top five. He held on for those two laps, finishing fourth, the best of the four Penske drivers. Logano placed 13th with Cindric 19th. Ryan Blaney, who was inside the top 10 for the bulk of the race, blew an engine on Lap 289 and is credited with a 28th-place finish.
"Our car was really solid," Berry added. "We had some really good restarts. We had one toward the end that didn‘t go our way, but pretty much every one of them we were able to move forward and fight and claw."
The fourth-place result is Berry‘s best in the opening month with the Wood Brothers. He was in position for a top 10 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, but was involved in a wreck on the final lap and instead placed 25th.
By scoring 39 points — the fourth-most of all drivers — Berry jumped 12 positions in the standings to 21st.
"I am just honestly so excited," Berry said. "This racetrack was pretty tough for me last year and these guys have great cars, without a doubt here. That was proven again today and we executed pretty solidly and was able to get a good finish, which is really good."
The fourth-place finish is the Wood Brothers‘ first top five at a track measuring one mile or less since Ricky Rudd finished fourth at Bristol in the summer of 2005.
