Josh Berry and the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane team rallied from being a lap down at the end of Stage 1 and navigated late-race chaos on the frontstretch to secure a ninth-place finish in Sunday’s Daytona 500.
Berry, driving a Ford Mustang Dark Horse styled to resemble the Mercury David Pearson piloted to victory in the Great American Race 50 years ago to the day, took the green flag from 14th. He cracked the top 10 by Lap 3 and climbed into the top five within the first 15 circuits.
Following a green-flag pit stop on Lap 50, Berry cycled back to 36th and ultimately finished Stage 1 in 37th, one lap down. He remained in position for the Free Pass until a caution on Lap 85 allowed him to return to the lead lap.
Berry avoided a 20-car crash with seven laps remaining in Stage 2 and closed that segment in 15th. The Motorcraft/Quick Lane crew bolted on four fresh tires and added fuel during the Stage break, allowing Berry to restart Stage 3 in sixth after several teams pitted late for fuel.
He spent much of the final Stage inside the top 10 and made his last pit stop from second place on Lap 185 of 200. Berry then led a pack of primarily Mustangs back toward the front and was running fourth with 10 laps remaining.
The No. 21 Ford remained in the top 10 through another incident that set up a four-lap dash to the finish. Berry briefly slipped to 16th on the restart but powered back through a multi-car crash near the finish line to earn the 16th top-10 result of his 85-race NASCAR Cup Series career.
Berry said he worked to stay aligned with his Ford teammates in the closing laps, though the draft didn’t quite come together as hoped.
“We really just tried to stay with Chris [Buescher] and Brad [Keselowski] the best I could, but it seemed like I could stay pretty close to them but whoever was behind me would lose me and we couldn’t get it going like we wanted,” Berry said. “All in all, it was a solid final Stage. We had a complete disaster in the first Stage and rebounded really well and gave ourselves a chance at it at the end.
“You can see how much happens in the last couple of laps, but all in all, we ran a good race, and we had a really good Motorcraft/Quick Lane Mustang.
“I’m really proud of the guys.”
Berry and the Wood Brothers team now turn their attention to EchoPark Speedway in Atlanta for next Sunday’s Autotrader 400.
