Josh Berry tight-lipped on Atlanta strategy, but says Penske Fords will try to 'work together'

Josh Berry wouldn't divulge what exactly goes on when he and his Ford teammates prepare for a NASCAR Cup Series drafting race, but his emphasis is on teamwork going into Saturday's Cup Series race at EchoPark Speedway (formerly Atlanta Motor Speedway). 

Berry drives the No. 21 Ford for the Wood Brothers, the oldest active team in NASCAR, and an organization that has a technical alliance and close ties with Team Penske. Drafting races such as Saturday's event at Atlanta usually feature a healthy dose of Penske Fords up front, something Berry is hoping to replicate on Saturday. 

"It's pretty easy to see that we try and work together the best we can and take care of each other," Berry said of his Penske and Ford teammates on Wednesday. "Our (Penske) teammates, our teammates at Ford - (we want) to keep as many numbers up front as we can when we get to the end of the stages and the end of the race. That's pretty simple." 

It may sound simple to Berry and the other Ford drivers, but there's a lot of moving parts to consider when putting together a strategy for a superspeedway race. 

"If you can have people around you at the end of these races that you can trust and rely on, it slows down the decision making," Berry said. "Obviously, I've only been a part of it for a couple (races) with these guys, but it's worked out well and I'm excited to go (to Atlanta) and keep working on what I learned in the spring race." 

Berry led 56 laps at Atlanta on Feb. 23 before a crash relegated him to a 25th-place finish. Combined, the Penske Ford of Berry, Austin Cindric, Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney led 187 of the race's 266 laps. 

All quotations obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.