Josh Berry playing with house money in NASCAR playoffs

On one hand, Josh Berry enters his debut appearance in the NASCAR Cup Series one point below the elimination cutline, but on the other, it’s actually everyone else with everything to lose over the next three weeks.

Berry took Wood Brothers Racing to Victory Lane in March at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It was also his first win at the highest level after spending the entirety of the previous decade as a Late Model Stock short tracker.

It was one of the most heartwarming stories of the season, a testament to sheer will, and undeniable talent matched with the oldest continually operating team in the Cup Series. Berry was never supposed to be here anyway and now that he has arrived to the playoffs, it’s those who have previously been here that carry the weight of expectation.

“I mean, the pressure is on the guys that everybody has been calling the favorites … and the pressure is on them to deliver, not us,” Berry said when asked about feeling as though he is under the radar right now. “That doesn’t bother me. I feel like these tracks line up really well for us.

“I feel like if we can execute a little better and finish where we should, then we are going to keep ourselves in contention.”

Berry won in the fifth race of the season, which was also the 53rd of his career, and was inside of the top-20 of the standings for much of the campaign. Since then, he’s been involved in some crashes and isn’t the best road course racer by his own admission but believes the first round of Darlington, Gateway and Bristol could set a positive tone for his No. 21 team.

“I feel good about a lot of the short tracks and intermediates that we’re going to,” Berry said. “You know, nearly each one of those that we went to in the first half, we showed potential, won Vegas, and had some issues with execution here or there, like Phoenix.

“So I feel like we are going to some tracks where we can go run well and score stage points and run inside the top-5 and top-10, and contend. The Roval has to be considered a weakness because road racing has been a challenge but I also feel like that has been my best road course.

“If we make it that far, and we’ve made improvements on our program, we might be in trouble if we need to win our way in but we can still go there and have a solid day, get some stage points, and maybe make it through.”

Cleaning up the mistakes 

Austin Cindric, Team Penske Ford, Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, Josh Berry, Wood Brothers Racing Ford, Ross Chastain, Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet, Joey Logano, Team Penske Ford, Ryan Preece, Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford, Brad Keselowski, Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford

Photo by: Krista Jasso / Getty Images

For Berry, execution is the watchword because that March afternoon in Vegas was reflective of a great car, a driver at his best with good pit stops, and a little bit of requisite luck.

“We had a great race car, and we’ve had a lot of fast race cars this year,” Berry said. “More often that not, we’ve had cars capable of running inside the top-5 and top-10 and there have just been a couple of races where we just missed it, and didn’t show the speed or shine, our maximum potential.

“Vegas, we were really strong and had the right strategy, had a great day on pit road and did everything we needed to stay in contention. That’s been the biggest thing that has held us back this year — a small mistake on my end, a bad pit stop penalty, things like that have hurt us from time-to-time.

“If we eliminate that stuff, we’re going to be fine.”