Josh Berry, Wood Brothers Racing Prepared, Confident For Playoff Run

Josh Berry is set to embark upon his first appearance in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs in Sunday's Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. The driver, who secured his place in the Playoffs via a stirring victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway early in the season, is looking to ignite a spark to kick off the 10-race championship fight.

And the Playoffs begin at a track, where Berry could very well be a diamond in the rough. While the 34-year-old driver in his first season with Wood Brothers Racing has three finishes of 30th-or-worse in his four career starts, he nabbed a third-place result at the treacherous 1.366-mile oval in May 2024.

Circumstances haven't always lined up for Berry to secure good finishes at Darlington, but the driver is very confident heading into Sunday's Cook Out Southern 500.

"I definitely feel pretty comfortable here," Berry said in a Saturday morning media availability at Darlington Raceway. "I think that really started in the [No.] 4 car last spring, working with [Crew Chief] Rodney [Childers] and studying a lot of Kevin [Harvick]'s data here. And we had a really good car, and that kind of translated and built some confidence in it, and I think it was able to translate to the Southern 500 last year, and then in the [No.] 21 car in the Spring. So yeah, I feel good. I think we ran well in both races last year, we ran well in the Spring, I don't feel like there's any reason we can't do that again this weekend."

To Berry's point, he did compete very admirably at Darlington earlier this year. Despite starting from the 24th position, the driver recorded 74 laps inside the top-15, and he worked his way up as high as fifth in the running order before his race ended prematurely with a crash on Lap 194.

Berry says that has been the story of the No. 21 team's season at intermediate oval races, aside from their win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

"I don't really feel like, especially when it comes to the oval tracks and the intermediates, it wasn't a performance thing," Berry said of his subpar finishes on 1.5-mile tracks. "Whether it was mistakes on pit road, or getting caught up in accidents. There are a number of races that I think back on that we were -- you know, here in the Spring, Martinsville we were in the lead and break. There are a lot of things that happened, I feel like some in our control, some outside our control."

Perhaps the planets can align for Berry and his Wood Brothers Racing team in Sunday night's crown jewel event. If so, and Berry finds himself in a position to win, it would be a special night for the driver, who holds this race in high regard.

"It's high up there," Berry said of the Southern 500. "It's just such a fun track for one, but just a historic race. Just a tough race, a grind. I think we all want to survive that, and be in victory lane at the end of the day."

While Sunday's race is one of the big-four races that every driver would like to chisel into their career resume, Berry explains that there is no magical different approach for he and crew chief Miles Stanley when it comes to preparing for the race. That's by design.

"It's kind of more business as usual. I feel like it's easy to overthink these situations and overdo it," Berry said. "I mean, you work all year long to prepare and get your routine of doing things week in and week out to prepare for every week.

"I think, a lot of times when you get to this point, people overthink it and over-prepare, and I feel like that can change your process and change your thinking going into this race that you have to do more than what you've done all year. I just don't feel like that's the case. I think that just comes from my background racing short tracks, and stuff, and working on my race car. If you go to a big race, I never worked harder on my car than I did every other week. You just get in your routine and you do the things you need to do to prepare, and you just go out and try to execute it."

Berry is bullish on how the opening three races of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs could shake out for him, as the entire three-race Round of 16 will be contested at tracks that he is very comfortable at -- Darlington, Gateway, and Bristol.

If the No. 21 can navigate cleanly through this round, who knows, the sky could be the limit for the legendary team and their new driver.

However, if Berry does advance through the Playoffs, he has one stop in the 10-race Playoffs circled as a track, where he hopes they can minimize the damage.

"I think the biggest Achilles' Heel in this whole thing, I think, is going to be the ROVAL," Berry explained. "I feel like we've made gains on the road course program, and when it comes to the ROVAL, I think I finished about 20th there last year, and I feel like I've gotten better since then. But we've got to make it to that point before we worry about it, honestly."

As he chose to not worry about the ROVAL, for now, Berry's mind is solely focused on the task at hand -- limiting mistakes, and maximizing his potential in the opening round of the Playoffs. He feels the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing team is primed for this moment.

"These guys, we're prepared. We're confident going into this deal," Berry said. "We feel like these tracks line up good. We don't need to do anything spectacular, like I said, we just need to limit our mistakes and be consistent, and see how far we can go. But honestly, I feel like I'm in a good place, I feel like the team is in a good place, I think we're ready to go."