LOUDON, N.H.- To put it bluntly, the first round of the playoffs for Josh Berry was hell. Three straight last-place finishes, three days effectively over before the first stage ended.
Of course, that led to Berry’s quick playoff elimination, continuing what had been a frustrating season since his win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March.
However, each week is a chance to start anew, and Berry certainly did as he and the No. 21 team, along with corporate teammates Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano over at Team Penske, were the cars to beat Sunday (Sept. 21) at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
The box score will show Berry qualified third and finished second, but the 301 laps in between certainly hold more to the story.
The No. 21 spins!@joshberry goes for a ride after contact with the No. 88. pic.twitter.com/HmnPv1fUB9
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) September 21, 2025
After a strong top-three run in stage one, Berry was turned around by Shane van Gisbergen on a lap 82 restart, and an incident that easily could have turned another strong day south with a quickness.
But the Wood Brothers team rallied, and Berry began his march through the field. As the laps began to wind down, it was Berry and the Penske pair heads up for the win, with Berry running faster laps than the two ahead.
The script flipped once again when Cody Ware brought out the caution with 45 laps to go, bunching the field back together. As the rest of the field hit pit road, some getting two tires, some four, crew chief Myles Stanley left Berry on the racetrack, giving the No. 21 the lead, putting the race in his driver’s hands.
We spoke too soon! @joshberry has closed the gap on the No. 12 and is there with 15 laps to go. pic.twitter.com/mQhykmEKUi
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) September 21, 2025
Blaney quickly worked his way to second on the restart and after passing Berry for the lead with 39 laps to go, it seemed as though the No. 12 might just drive away. Berry clawed back, got within a car length, but a bobble in turn 3 sealed the fate on Berry’s bid for the win.
After a disastrous Round of 16, Berry brought the No. 21 home in second at Loudon.
“It looked like Ryan started to get loose a little before I did,” Berry said post-race. “And then I started to get loose, and the right rear was just gone, … all in all, still a good day.”
As previously mentioned, it’s been a rough go of it for Berry and the No. 21 team, but it hasn’t been due to a lack of speed.
“It’s like I’ve said the past few weeks,” Berry said. “We’ve had good cars, our pit crew has been doing a really good job, we just had some shit luck for three weeks, really is the best way to put it. Today was a great battle, to fight there and get back up through the spin and get back up there, get a good finish.”
The Penske and Wood Brothers cars were in a league of their own, a stark contrast to the Joe Gibbs Racing dominance from the first round of the playoffs. Although Berry is no longer a playoff car, the speed and execution were there, and something he gave credit to the team back at home for.
“I think it’s a statement for Team Penske and Wood Brothers for sure,” Berry said. “We all just seemed like we had really good cars, just hats off to those guys for the job they did. We had a great practice yesterday, was able to recover from that spin and have a really good day.”
With both cars sliding around as the laps wound down, Blaney and Berry were on edge. Berry cut into the gap but ultimately stepped over the line with a little over 10 to go. Berry mentioned how hard it is to walk the tightrope and make lap-time as the tires fade late in the race.
“It’s tough,” Berry said. “The leader has such an advantage with the air. He can kind of just fade one way or the other, do just enough to mess up my corner that little bit right. So it’s definitely a big advantage having the lead and he did a great job.
“We just needed to be a touch better, maybe we should have pitted there but at the end, you know, we still managed it really well and brought home a good finish.”
The second-place run is exactly the day Berry and co. needed to get back on track and try to end on a high note. Surely bittersweet to be so close to a win, but a major step in the right direction for a team that’s been in a major slump.
Chase began working with Frontstretch in the spring of 2023 as a news writer, while also helping fill in for other columns as needed. Chase is now the main writer and reporter for Frontstretch.com's CARS Tour coverage, a role which began late in 2023. Aside from racing, some of Chase's other hobbies include time in the outdoors hunting and fishing, and keeping up with all things Philadelphia sports related.