Josh Berry’s march into the playoffs has been a mix of hard-earned triumph and steely focus. His landmark Las Vegas class win lit up the NASCAR world, as he captured the checkered flag after a fierce, wheel-to-wheel battle with Daniel Suarez. Josh drove his Wood Brothers No. 21 Mustang into history, securing not just a milestone victory but also a vital playoff berth for NASCAR’s oldest team. “Everybody with Wood Brothers Racing gave me a great car, and we just battled and battled,” he had expressed.

Now, with the stakes climbing, Berry is asking for a repeat of that. Because it is not just about the great cars, but also the strategies and grit of the team that come with it.

Josh Berry pushes for execution amid post-season round one chaos

For decades, Wood Brothers Racing has punched well above its weight, thanks in large part to its deeply rooted technical alliance with Team Penske. Under this arrangement, Penske meticulously bills and preps the chassis for the iconic No. 21 Ford, with Wood Brothers completing final touches such as fitting the cockpit, trim work, and paint while sharing vital performance data between both shops. WBR has also benefitted from access to engineering support and strategic insight, and Josh Berry is aware of the advantage all of it brings.

Talking about round one of the postseason, the 34-year-old has expressed confidence in his team and his sister team, Penske, that have delivered on cars time and again. “I feel good about it,” he began. But his hint of concern came in the flashback to last year’s Gateway, where the Ford group was running a long tire strategy and Berry blew a tire in Stage 2. So while he knows Penske can set them up good with the car, it is also the execution that’s necessary.

“You know Gateway was good for us last year, but we blew a tire. So obviously, the Penske cars have been really strong there. I mean, I think we’re lined up to have success. We just gotta go out and execute, that’s the biggest thing. We need to execute a little bit better,” he added.

Team Penske brought the heat to Gateway raceway at the start of the playoff, flexing serious short-track muscle with a performance that left the field reeling. At the Enjoy 320 24, they left the top three in both single-lap and 5- 10 lap average speeds during practice, signaling they meant business before the green flag even dropped. When they arrived, Joey Logano dramatically captured the win while Austin Cindric and Ryan Blaney both raced their way into the top five.

Penske setup, throttle management, and strategic execution on the 1.25-mile oval were finals-caliber brilliance in motion, proving that when it comes to short-track dominance, they are the benchmark.

In the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series race at Gateway, Josh Berry’s day came to an early and disappointing end; he finished 36th after crashing out on lap 109 of 240 while driving the No. 4 Ford for Stewart-Haas Racing. But this year is different; with his stint with WBR, Berry is determined to advance to the next rounds.

He added, “We’ve had good speed and that’s lined up a lot for us this year, right? I think a lot of the kind of shorter intermediate tracks have been pretty solid for us. And like I said, the biggest thing is we’re just gonna have to execute, right? I think you see this first round, you see unexpected chaos, right? We have to stay out of that and yeah, we just have to execute solid races and I think those tracks line up as good as any.”

Berry’s reference to unexpected chaos likely zeros in on the first round of the playoffs or the regular season finale at Daytona’s Coke Zero 400, events known for their packed-up high drama shake-up potential. These are intense, unpredictable terrains where avoiding wrecks and executing train races is the difference between advancement and heartbreak. Meanwhile, Austin Cindric has narrowed down on the difference between the Daytona 500 and the 400, among his bold reality checks to insiders about negativity surrounding NASCAR. 

Austin Cindric reveals an honest truth about the Daytona track

Austin Cindric may already have his playoff ticket punched, but he knows Daytona is never a weekend to let your guard down. The 2022 Daytona 500 champion has proven his superspeedway chops by winning earlier this year at Talladega to join team Penske teammates Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney in the postseason. Even Penske’s close allies, the Wood Brothers, are locked in thanks to Josh Berry’s Las Vegas victory. But for any other drivers, this Saturday night is do or die.

While the Daytona 500 is NASCAR’s crown jewel, its summer sibling, the 400 miler, is often the wilder race because the stakes are brutal, the moves are bolder, and aspiration runs through the field like electricity.

Cindric explained, “I think when you compare and contrast the two, one, I think it’s probably a different brand of desperation that is throughout the field. I think for the 500, there’s probably a higher respect for what the win means, where here it’s all-out, whatever it takes for a good half of the field. To your point about what makes the two races different, we did have a pretty hot 500 this year, so I would say there’s probably gonna be more similarities to the 500 than maybe in years past when it was 60 or 50 degrees later in the evening.”

Cindric may be safe, but there is still plenty on the line for Team Penske. Blaney is clawing for second in the regular season standings but enters Daytona in fifth, just 15 points back. Every position matters, as a higher standing means more payoff bonus points.