Josh Berry and the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane team emerged from a marathon Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium with a 12th-place finish after winning the preliminary Last Chance Qualifier to earn a spot in the 200-lap main event, which was impacted by the same winter weather that pushed the race from Sunday to Wednesday night.
For the second straight year, Berry raced his way into the Clash starting field with a top-two finish in the 75-lap Last Chance Qualifier. In 2025, it took an aggressive drive to second to advance. This year, Berry started on the pole, briefly lost the lead to AJ Allmendinger, then powered back to the front, leading the final 59 laps to beat second-place finisher Austin Cindric by 7.4 seconds. By the time the checkered flag flew, Berry had lapped up to the ninth-place driver.
“We just struggled a little bit on the restarts,” Berry said between races. “With the cold temperatures, I was locking the left front and got it locked up a little bit under AJ and washed him out. But once we were able to settle in and get some heat in the tires, I felt good about our car.”
Berry said advancing to the main event was a relief.
“It’s a long night when you don’t make this race.”
It turned out to be a long night anyway.
Starting 21st in the main event, Berry steadily worked his way forward and was running 13th at the halftime break. During the break, sleet began to fall, prompting teams to switch to treaded tires designed for wet-track conditions. The change initially worked in Berry’s favor as he climbed into the top 10 by Lap 115, but four laps later he was involved in one of the Clash-record 17 caution periods that plagued much of the second half of the race.
Berry returned to the track one lap down in 22nd place before rejoining the lead lap at the three-quarter mark of the non-points exhibition. With laps under caution not counting, the race stretched to three and a half hours in length.
With 35 laps remaining, Berry was running 19th but continued to move forward, advancing into the top 15 by Lap 175 and climbing to 12th by Lap 185. He held that position through the remainder of the race.
Berry and the No. 21 team now turn their focus to Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway, where qualifying for the Daytona 500 is set for Feb. 11, followed by the Great American Race on Feb. 15.
