2 weeks agoAfter Josh Berry's semi-surprise first win at Las Vegas last week, he has continued to keep up his consistently good qualifying and starts on the outside front row for Sunday's Homestead race. Although he's definitely gained a lot of speed over his entire sophomore season, he still needed a lot of help from faster cars or drivers either losing tires or making strategic errors. It still seems unlikely to expect Berry to lead any particular non-drafting oval race without some help, but he's obviously a lot faster than last year. Berry did have a solid 11th-place finish in his first Homestead start last year, so he'll likely be a strong contender for a top-10 finish. However, he qualified too well to have much DFS value unless you think he'll lead the race, which is definitely possible since he's arguably looked faster than pole-sitter Alex Bowman this year.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
3 weeks agoJosh Berry is officially a NASCAR Cup Series winner--and it wasn't a fluke victory. Although he only led 18 of the 267 laps at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday, Berry was strong from start to finish, boasting the third-best average running position during the Pennzoil 400 and having the fourth-fastest Green Flag Speed. This win comes in Berry's 53rd career Cup Series starts and a strong indicator that Wood Brothers Racing made the correct decision in signing him this year. Berry now sits 13th in the points standings after five races and is one of just five drivers to have multiple top-five finishes this year.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: NASCAR.com
3 weeks agoJosh Berry qualifying well is starting to become rather routine, and his seventh-place starting position for Sunday's race at Las Vegas is consistent with that. However, he tends to be very slow on unrestricted intermediate tracks, and he only finished 20th and 24th in last year's Las Vegas races. Admittedly, he was a rookie, but the track hasn't really suited him to begin with -- in his Hendrick Motorsports debut at Las Vegas two years ago, he only finished 29th, while his three regular teammates swept the top three. For all the speed Berry had at Atlanta and Phoenix, he's almost guaranteed to lose positions here, making him clearly one of the worst options unless you think he'll lead laps in Stage 1 when most of the better drivers are starting behind him. Given his recent form, it's certainly not inconceivable, but don't bet on it.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
4 weeks agoJosh Berry had one of the best runs for a Wood Brothers driver in years in Sunday's Phoenix race. After starting fourth, Berry ran in the top five for almost the entire first stage but fell to 29th after a loose lug nut during the race's fourth caution. Luckily, he managed to evade the multi-car pileup on the ensuing restart, which elevated him to 19th. After working his way back up to 10th at the end of Stage 2, he eventually worked his way up to a fourth-place finish, exactly where he started. This made him the first No. 21 driver since Matt DiBenedetto in 2021 to score a driver rating over 100, start and finish in the top five in the same race, and earn a top-five finish on a non-drafting oval. If Berry can stop crashing so much, he might be a playoff contender.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
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