Josh Berry captured his first-ever NASCAR Cup Series victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Berry, driving the legendary No. 21 Ford, held off a hard-charging Daniel Suárez in the final laps to secure the team’s 101st Cup Series victory and lock himself into the 2025 playoffs.
Pit Road Chaos and Early Race Drama
The race started off with a clean first stint, but as green-flag pit stops began on Lap 32, trouble found several top contenders. Ryan Blaney’s crew had difficulty securing the front left tire, costing him valuable time and putting him two laps down. Chase Briscoe’s day took an even worse turn when his team failed to tighten the left rear wheel. Despite their attempts to warn him, the tire completely detached on Lap 34. Briscoe had to be towed to pit road and was handed a two-lap penalty, while his crew now faces an automatic suspension for the uncontrolled tire.
Pit road continued to be a trouble spot as both Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch were caught speeding. While Hamlin served a pass through penalty, Busch pulled onto the apron and then rejoined the rear of the field. Meanwhile, on track, Austin Cindric emerged as a serious contender. After a strong qualifying effort, he battled Alex Bowman for the lead in the opening stage before ultimately pulling ahead to claim the Stage 1 win.
Tire Issues and Errors Shape Stage 2
As the second stage unfolded, pit road remained a focal point of chaos. Alex Bowman, who had been running in the top five, dramatically dove onto pit road due to a vibration, dropping him deep in the field. A few laps later, Shane van Gisbergen who was already struggling near the back of the pack, had the front right tire go down and he spun on track, bringing out a caution on Lap 108.
Many cars headed to pit road, Christopher Bell among them, and narrowly avoided a similar disaster to Chase Briscoe. When exiting the pit stall, his crew noted they had failed to get the left front tire secured. Since he wasn’t able to turn back, his team quickly advised that he stop in teammate Chase Briscoe’s pit stall for service, accepting a lesser penalty for the maneuver than if he had lost the wheel while on track.
Chase Elliott, who had been a frontrunner early, made an uncharacteristic mistake by speeding on pit road. The pass-through penalty dropped him outside the top 20, forcing him to fight back through the field. Meanwhile, Kyle Busch’s already difficult race worsened when he lost a right rear tire on track, sending him into the wall and ultimately to the garage for lengthy repairs.
The caution gave Hamlin the wave around to get back on the lead lap, and this time it was Alex Bowman’s turn to be nabbed for speeding as he entered pit road.
Then on lap 128, the right front tire of Shane van Gisbergen went down for the second time.
On the restart, William Byron was P1 but found himself under pressure from Kyle Larson. On fresher tires, Larson made quick work of Byron and sailed to the Stage 2 victory.
Late-Race Drama and Berry’s Moment of Glory
In the third stage, Cody Ware brought out yet another caution when he spun. Again, cars headed to pit road, including Carson Hocevar and Ty Gibbs. The two made contact as Hocevar was exiting and Gibbs was entering, spinning Gibbs backward into his pit box. Strategy caused a few teams to opt for a two-tire stop to gain track position including Elliott, Cindric and Chastain. However, the run on 2 fresh tires was relatively short-lived with 72 laps to go and a four-wide battle on the backstrech. Mid-pack turned chaotic when drivers simply ran out of room. AJ Allmendinger clipped and spun Ricky Stenhouse Jr and as cars stacked up, Ryan Blaney and Erik Jones spun and collided. The wreck also collected Bubba Wallace.
Drivers on two new tires used the caution cycle to return to pit road and change left sides. And all three drivers that did, ended their race among the top ten.
The 9th caution of the day involved yet another blowout when Noah Gragson blew the right front and hit the wall. This was only seconds after Kyle Busch, who had just gotten back on track, scraped the wall and headed back to pit road.
On the restart, Josh Berry and Daniel Suarez duked it out for several laps, before Berry finally cleared Suarez, and then set sail in clean air to take the win. This was Berry’s 53rd career start and 5th race with the Wood Brothers since making the transition from Stewart-Haas Racing.
Top 10 Finishers:
- Josh Berry
- Daniel Suárez
- Ryan Preece
- William Byron
- Ross Chastain
- Austin Cindric
- Alex Bowman
- AJ Allmendinger
- Kyle Larson
- Chase Elliott
With his breakthrough victory, Berry and the rest of the field now shift their focus to next Sunday at Homestead Miami.