Josh Berry 'Excited' for Richmond Despite Rough Qualifying Draw

Josh Berry and the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing team are hoping to build some momentum heading into the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, and the bid to do so heads to a track that is right in Berry's wheelhouse -- Richmond Raceway. The prolific short track racer has an average finish of 9.0 in three career NASCAR Cup Series starts at the 0.750-mile Virginia short track, but due to a 35th-place finishing position last weekend at Watkins Glen International, Berry will have an unfavorable qualifying order spot based on the NASCAR performance metric.

Still, Berry is hopeful for a good result to the race weekend and is confident crew chief Miles Stanley can strategize a way to gain the No. 21 machine some track position in Saturday night's Cook Out 400.

"I'm excited. I think I've had some good runs there in the past in the Cup Series and the Xfinity Series. I feel like it should be a good opportunity for us to run well. Definitely a place that we've had circled for a while. Obviously, the biggest thing we're looking at now is the qualifying draw, and how that worked out, unfortunately," Berry said in a media availability on Wednesday. "But we're just going to have to make the most of that, probably get creative in the race to get some track position. But I feel like, if we have a good car, we should be up front."

Berry will be the fourth driver, who will take to the track in the 38-car field in qualifying at a track where an early qualifying draw is essentially a death sentence for any hope of a top qualifying speed. Due to this, Berry feels his team will likely focus on their race setup in practice, and just hope for the best in qualifying.

"I mean, really, all you can do is focus on practice and try to get your car as good as you can for the race. You're going to take a hit in qualifying, I would say. I mean, I think top-20 to top-25, we'd probably take it," Berry admitted. "It's just the track rubbers up so much, and then cold tires peel the rubber off the track. Richmond is one of the worst for that. I think Richmond, Darlington, Kansas, some of those places that we see higher tire wear and the track rubbering up more is worse for that. Yeah, it's just unfortunate, but you have to do your best to battle out of it."

That being said, if you're betting against Berry and the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing team based on their expected poor performance in qualifying, you may not want to. Berry finished second at Richmond in 2023 behind the wheel of the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet after starting the race from the 30th position that day. Last Spring, Berry also rallied from the 30th starting spot to finish 11th at Richmond behind the wheel of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford.

However, there is an interesting wrinle to Richmond Raceway this season as the track only has one race date. This means teams have not had a chance to build upon their notebook earlier in the season. While it could lead to an unexpected result on Saturday night, Berry expects to see much of the same at Richmond Raceway this weekend.

"I think it'll be pretty similar to what we've seen in years. And obviously, everybody on our teams and a lot of the industry has a lot of experience there. So, yeah, it's a little unique, only racing there once, but I don't think -- it'll be the same old Richmond, I feel like. I don't think it'll be too different," Berry said.

The driver locked his position in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs by scoring the 101st all-time win for Wood Brothers Racing in the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway early in the season. But since the win, Berry and the No. 21 team have failed to find consistent results despite consistently bringing fast cars to the track.

While Berry only has three top-10 finishes through the opening 24 races of the season, the 34-year-old racer really likes the makeup of races in the opening round of the Playoffs.

"Yeah, I think all of them -- Darlington, we were really solid in the Spring, we unfortunately got into the incident with [Tyler Reddick]. But ran good there last year too in the 4 [car]. Gateway, we had a good race going last year in the 4, but blew a tire. But I really haven't raced there a lot, but I still feel that it should be a good place for us. And obviously, the Penske cars are really strong there. And then yeah, Bristol, we had a solid race there in the Spring. I feel like we can make our cars better off of what we had there," Berry said of the three tracks in the opening round of the Playoffs. "Obviously, there was a lot of debate on if the tires were going to wear, and how they were going to wear, and all of that stuff heading into that race. I feel like we can maximize everything going back. Yeah, I feel like those are three really good opportunities for us. It's just going to come down to unloading well and executing our weekend, and I think we'll be in the hunt."

If Berry and the No. 21 team can close out the regular-season strong this weekend at Richmond and next weekend at Daytona International Speedway, they'll carry momentum and confidence into the opening round of the Playoffs. That being said, they could be an unexpected legitimate championship contender in a few weeks.

But first up, they'll see what kind of damage they can do in Saturday night's Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway and go from there.