Berry Big Win

Josh Berry celebrates his win in the Pennzoil 400. (Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)

South Point 400:

Josh Berry snagged his first career NASCAR Cup Series win Sunday afternoon in the Pennzoil 400. The win will lock Berry into the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs for the first time in his young career and locks the Wood Brothers 21 car in the playoffs for a second consecutive year. It has also been a feel good win for many within the industry due to Berry being respected for his grind to the top series via the short track circuits around the Southeast and country, and doing it with little financial backing and a lot of praise from Dale Earnhardt Jr. It all finally paid off on Sunday with Berry taking the checkered flag ahead of the Cup Series field on Sunday.

Las Vegas delivered a racers race again and put on another good show Sunday afternoon. It wasn't a barn burner, but the multi-grooved aging track provided good racing. Clean air was king at times, but drivers with great cars and fresh tires were able to move up through the field at times. Ryan Blaney did it twice with arguably the best car of the day only to have that stripped from him with a mistake that put him into the wall. Yet, even with some good cars mired back due to pit strategy, which to me added a great spark to the race in stage three, we had great battles and side by side racing throughout the day. We had a few incidents on track that added restarts, more battles, and amped up the pit strategy late in the race. Most of the action and drama stemmed from pit road miscues with multiple loose wheels, some contact, and a few drivers with solid cars getting dinged with pit road penalties. We capped all that off with an exciting sprint to the finish and a battle for the win with Daniel Suarez and Josh Berry with other competitive cars with four fresh tires charging hard for the win. However, Berry was able to get clean air and drive away to the victory.

And that was the best part of the day. Josh Berry winning, especially in the famed Wood Brothers #21 car is simply put a feel good win. Josh has had to bust his butt to get here. He doesn't have loads of money buying his career, he doesn't come from a famed racing family, and he didn't luck himself into this ride via some fluke. He worked his way into a budding race career, was spotted and befriended by Dale Jr who brought him into JRM's late model stock program where Josh paid his dues for a decade to get a shot. Once that door was cracked open, he kicked it wide open and has proved he belongs here. Plus, how can you not love the Wood Brothers? They've been with NASCAR since the beginning, true innovators and legends of the sport who have also busted their butt for everything. Having them back in victory lane is great for the sport. Here's to hoping we see them win more this year and into the future.

Next we head to Homestead-Miami Speedway (unfortunately this early in the year as it should be the Championship Race) with all three national touring series on track this week. The Craftsmen Truck Series kicks off the weekend on Friday evening at 8 p.m. on FOX with the Baptist Health 200. The Xfinity Series headlines Saturday's on track action at 4 p.m. on The CW with the Hard Rock Bet 300. And the NASCAR Cup Series caps off the weekend on Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. on FS1 with the Straight Talk Wireless 400. I may be going insane, but I am picking a Kyle Larson perfect sweep this weekend.

Homestead-Miami Picks:

Trucks = Kyle Larson

Xfinity = Kyle Larson

Cup = Kyle Larson