Josh Berry goes from worst to nearly first at New Hampshire
LOUDON, N.H. — Josh Berry only had Ryan Blaney and a late-race slip-up stopping him in his bid to go from worst to first in the NASCAR Cup Series.
After scoring three consecutive last-place finishes, Berry avoided a fourth in a big way. He finished second after rebounding from an early-race spin that could’ve been much worse.
New Hampshire couldn’t have been a better place for Berry to come to after a trio of dismal finishes. In 2024, he finished third after starting 10th.
Berry followed up his 2024 performance with starting third Sunday. He ran second to Joey Logano for most of the first 52 laps he led before Blaney came through and won the first stage over Logano, William Byron and Berry.
Finally. Josh Berry had made it beyond the first stage of a 2025 playoff race without a catastrophe.
Little did he or his team know that catastrophe was waiting for them in stage two.
The No. 21 spins!@joshberry goes for a ride after contact with the No. 88. pic.twitter.com/HmnPv1fUB9
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) September 21, 2025
On lap 82, Shane van Gisbergen tapped Berry’s left side and sent him spinning in turn two.
Luckily, Berry still continued on without much damage. In fact, he placed 10th in the second stage and earned a bonus point on lap 185.
In the final stage, Berry worked his way through the top 10 and was third before his final pit stop on lap 241. He held on third after his stop and jumped to the lead 14 laps later when crew chief Miles Stanley kept him out with Chase Elliott. Everyone else pitted, mostly for two fresh tires, including Ryan Blaney.
On the restart, Blaney took the lead from Berry and built a sizable lead – before Berry started reeling him in. Although he closed to Blaney’s bumper, Berry slid in turn three and lost about one second in time to Blaney in the final 10 laps.
Berry finished second. After three last-place finishes eliminated him from the playoffs, he basically won but he just needed a little more to actually win.
“We lacked a little bit of fire off, but, honestly, ever since the start of the race we were just mired in so much traffic,” he said. “Our long run seemed really strong, so I think it could have gone a couple different ways.”
After the recent finishes and the way Sunday went, Berry was happy.
“Still, it’s just a great day. We had a great car. Everybody did a great job. The pit stops were awesome and we have a lot to look forward to,” he said. “It was a grind for sure but we had a really good car and we just chipped away at it. We just kept putting four on it and kept moving forward and did it the old fashioned way. It was a lot of fun.”
Berry earned more points at New Hampshire (43) than he had altogether in the previous four weeks (32). He is now 16th in the playoff standings:
- 13. Alex Bowman: 2081 points
- 14. Austin Dillon: 2076
- 15. Shane van Gisbergen: 2059
- 16. Josh Berry: 2053
NEXT: Kansas Speedway, Sept. 28, 3 p.m. ET (USA, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90)
- Berry finished sixth in the spring in his first Kansas start with Wood Brothers Racing
Discover more from The Racing Experts
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com