Josh Berry Has Solid Speed, but Crash Frequency Raises Concerns for Atlanta
4 weeks agoJosh Berry starts fourth at Atlanta, extending a bizarre trend where he has qualified in the top five for every odd-numbered race since Iowa. Although he's rarely thought of as a superspeedway driver, he was very fast at Daytona, where he had one of the best runs before he and Austin Cindric crashed while battling for the lead, resulting in his flip. He also crashed in last week's Southern 500, giving him his fourth crash DNF in the last eight starts. Berry leads the NASCAR Cup Series with both seven crash DNFs and 21 total incidents. Despite his speed, this doesn't bode well for a drafting track where avoiding crashes is more predictive of a good finish than how one runs. It's possible that Berry may drive more conservatively either because of his flip or because he can't win his way into the playoffs, but don't count on it.
Source: Racing Reference
Source: Racing Reference