Josh Berry Takes Wood Brothers Back to Victory Lane
(LAS VEGAS, NV – MAR 16, 2025 – RIS) Josh Berry won Sunday’s (Mar. 16) Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, winning the first race of his NASCAR Cup Series career and the 101st race for the historic Wood Brothers organization. A caution with 73 laps to go flipped the front of the field as Wiliam Byron and Kyle Larson, two of the fastest cars of the afternoon, pitted in order to ensure they would make it to the end on fuel. That trapped them in the middle of the field. They were able to make up some ground, but not enough to be real factors at the front.
Berry, Daniel Suarez and Ryan Preece, among others, ran the final long green-flag stint of the race without coming down pit road, which proved to be the winning strategy. When Noah Gragson brought out the yellow flag with 25 laps to go, Berry and Suarez had the track position necessary to pit and retain the top two spots.
Berry won by 1.358 seconds over Suarez. Preece tied his career-best finish in third, followed by Byron and Ross Chastain. Austin Cindric was sixth, then Alex Bowman, AJ Allmendinger and Larson. Chase Elliott completed the top 10. Austin Cindric won Stage 1, and Kyle Larson was first in Stage 2.
The biggest incident of the day, took out Ryan Blaney and Austin Dillon. Loose wheels were also a major factor, as Kyle Busch, Chase Briscoe and Christopher Bell were all impacted by loose wheels over the course of the race. Bell was going for four straight wins, but he finished in 12th place.
“I don’t even know what to think,” Berry told Fox Sports’ Jamie Little. “We just battled and battled and battled. It was our day. I can’t believe it. Such a battle with Daniel [Suarez] there in the end. [The Wood Brothers) have been so good to me. They’ve welcomed me with open arms. We have a great thing going on together.
“Man, I just can’t believe it. I’m just so proud of everybody on this team. The car was really solid all day. We just executed. We had a mishap on pit road and was able to rebound again, and I’m just super proud of these guys. I’m just really trying to soak this all in, honestly. I’m trying to take my time with everything and really enjoy this moment.”
Suarez offered his congratulations in defeat. “First of all, congratulations to the No. 21 team,” Suarez told Fox Sports. “Josh did a good job. We did everything right. Our car was fast, we just struggled a little bit on the short run."
Unofficial Results: Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube, March 16, 2025 -Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 7, Josh Berry, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford, 267, 8, 8, 2, 18, 5, 46, Running
2) 23, Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Freeway Insurance Chevrolet, 267, , 7, 4, 12, , 39, Running
3) 12, Ryan Preece, No. 60 Consumer Cellular Ford, 267, , , , , , 34, Running
4) 8, William Byron, No. 24 Raptor Chevrolet, 267, , 2, 2, 10, , 42, Running
5) 19, Ross Chastain, No. 1 Kubota Orange Days Sales Event Chevrolet, 267, , 3, 3, 14, , 40, Running
6) 3, Austin Cindric, No. 2 Discount Tire Ford, 267, 1, , 3, 47, 1, 41, Running
7) 6, Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Chevrolet, 267, 2, , 1, 2, , 39, Running
8) 18, AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Action Industries Chevrolet, 267, 6, , , , , 34, Running
9) 10, Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, 267, 5, 1, 5, 61, 1, 44, Running
10) 16, Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, 267, 3, , , , , 35, Running
11) 27, Brad Keselowski, No. 6 Castrol Ford, 267, , , , , , 26, Running
12) 13, Christopher Bell, No. 20 Interstate Batteries Toyota, 267, 10, , , , , 26, Running
13) 11, Chris Buescher, No. 17 Smith's/Dasani Ford, 267, , , , , , 24, Running
14) 33, Justin Haley, No. 7 Gainbridge Chevrolet, 267, , , , , , 23, Running
15) 2, Joey Logano, No. 22 Pennzoil Ultra Premium Ford, 267, 7, , 2, 40, , 26, Running
16) 1, Michael McDowell, No. 71 Group 1001 Chevrolet, 267, , , 2, 5, , 21, Running
17) 24, Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Spring Fishing Classic Toyota, 267, , , , , , 20, Running
18) 31, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Real American Beer Chevrolet, 267, , 10, , , , 20, Running
19) 34, Riley Herbst #, No. 35 SunnyD Toyota, 267, , , , , , 18, Running
20) 30, John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Backstreet Boys Toyota, 267, , , , , , 17, Running
21) 17, Ty Dillon, No. 10 Sea Best Chevrolet, 267, , , , , , 16, Running
22) 29, Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota, 267, , , , , , 15, Running
23) 9, Zane Smith, No. 38 TitleMax Ford, 267, , , , , , 14, Running
24) 14, Tyler Reddick, No. 45 The Beast Toyota, 267, , 9, 4, 34, , 16, Running
25) 15, Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Yahoo! Toyota, 267, , , , , , 12, Running
26) 26, Cole Custer, No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford, 267, , , , , , 11, Running
27) 5, Erik Jones, No. 43 Dollar Tree Toyota, 266, , , 1, 1, , 10, Running
28) 20, Bubba Wallace, No. 23 U.S. Air Force Toyota, 266, 4, 4, 3, 20, , 23, Running
29) 32, Todd Gilliland, No. 34 Love's Travel Stops Ford, 265, , , , , , 8, Running
30) 25, Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Delaware Life Chevrolet, 265, 9, 5, , , , 15, Running
31) 21, Noah Gragson, No. 4 Beef A Roo Ford, 241, , , , , , 6, Accident
32) 22, Austin Dillon, No. 3 Dow MobilityScience Chevrolet, 240, , , , , , 5, Running
33) 4, Kyle Busch, No. 8 BetMGM Chevrolet, 232, , , 1, 3, , 4, Running
34) 28, Shane Van Gisbergen #, No. 88 Red Bull Chevrolet, 195, , , , , , 3, Accident
35) 36, Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Menards/Pennzoil Ford, 194, , 6, , , , 7, Accident
36) 35, Cody Ware, No. 51 Evel Knievel/Parts Plus Ford, 186, , , , , , 1, Accident
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie
Total Race Length: 267 Laps, 400.5 Miles
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 13 Mins, 13 Secs.
Average Speed: 124.368 MPH
Margin of Victory: 1.358 Seconds
Fastest Lap Bonus: No. 45 on lap 202 / 29.194 sec
Stage 1 Top 10: 2, 48, 9, 23, 5, 16, 22, 21, 77, 20
Stage 2 Top 10: 5, 24, 1, 23, 77, 12, 99, 21, 45, 47
Comments: Josh Berry won the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, his first NASCAR Cup Series victory.
Prior to the start, the following cars dropped to the rear: No. 12 (DNQ), Nos. 20, 35, 42, 47 (unapproved adjustments).
Cautions: 9 for 53 laps;
Laps: 34-40 (Tire on racetrack [51]);
82-88 (Stage 1 Conclusion [54]);
108-112 (No. 88 spin backstretch [12]);
114-119 (Tire on racetrack [11]);
148-152 (No. 34, 47 incident turn 4 [54]);
167-173 (Stage 2 Conclusion [51]);
189-194 (No. 51 incident turn 3 [34]);
196-200 (No. 12, 43, 4, 3, 23, 47, 16 incident backstretch [19]);
244-248 (No. 4 incident turn 2 [None]).
Lead Changes: 32 among 13 drivers;
M. McDowell 1;
J. Logano 2-31;
A. Cindric 32;
K. Busch 33-35;
T. Reddick 36;
A. Cindric 37-40;
A. Bowman 41-42;
A. Cindric 43-84;
B. Wallace 85-99;
K. Larson 100-108;
B. Wallace 109-112;
W. Byron 113-119;
K. Larson 120-148;
T. Reddick 149;
R. Chastain 150-151;
E. Jones 152;
R. Chastain 153-159;
W. Byron 160-162;
K. Larson 163-168;
B. Wallace 169;
M. McDowell 170-173;
K. Larson 174-188;
D. Suarez 189;
R. Chastain 190-194;
K. Larson 195-196;
T. Reddick 197-199;
D. Suarez 200;
T. Reddick 201-229;
D. Suarez 230-233;
J. Berry 234-235;
J. Logano 236-245;
D. Suarez 246-251;
J. Berry 252-267.
Unofficial Points Report: Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube, Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Pos, Driver, Car, Starts, GL, Points, Ldr, Nxt, Wins, St Wins, Playoff Pts
1) William Byron, 24, 5, 0, 207, 0, 0, 1, 1, 6
2) Christopher Bell, 20, 5, 0, 178, -29, 29, 3, 1, 16
3) Tyler Reddick, 45, 5, 0, 159, -48, 19, 0, 0, 0
4) Chase Elliott, 9, 5, -1, 159, -48, 0, 0, 0, 0
5) Alex Bowman, 48, 5, -1, 156, -51, 3, 0, 0, 0
6) Kyle Larson, 5, 5, -5, 152, -55, 4, 0, 2, 2
7) Ryan Blaney, 12, 5, 3, 143, -64, 9, 0, 1, 1
8) Joey Logano, 22, 5, -1, 136, -71, 7, 0, 1, 1
9) Chris Buescher, 17, 5, -1, 133, -74, 3, 0, 0, 0
10) Ross Chastain, 1, 5, -6, 128, -79, 5, 0, 0, 0
11) Bubba Wallace, 23, 5, -1, 125, -82, 3, 0, 1, 1
12) Denny Hamlin, 11, 5, 5, 122, -85, 3, 0, 0, 0
13) Josh Berry, 21, 5, -8, 119, -88, 3, 1, 1, 6
14) Michael McDowell, 71, 5, -1, 117, -90, 2, 0, 0, 0
15) John Hunter Nemechek, 42, 5, 2, 116, -91, 1, 0, 0, 0
16) Ricky Stenhouse Jr, 47, 5, 2, 116, -91, 0, 0, 0, 0
17) Kyle Busch, 8, 5, 9, 114, -93, 2, 0, 0, 0
18) Ryan Preece, 60, 5, -6, 102, -105, 12, 0, 1, 1
19) Daniel Suarez, 99, 5, -10, 94, -113, 8, 0, 0, 0
20) Chase Briscoe, 19, 5, 0, 94, -113, 0, 0, 0, 0
21) Austin Cindric, 2, 5, -11, 93, -114, 1, 0, 1, 1
22) Carson Hocevar, 77, 5, 4, 92, -115, 1, 0, 0, 0
23) AJ Allmendinger, 16, 5, -5, 92, -115, 0, 0, 0, 0
24) Todd Gilliland, 34, 5, 7, 91, -116, 1, 0, 0, 0
25) Erik Jones, 43, 5, 6, 85, -122, 6, 0, 0, 0
26) Ty Dillon, 10, 5, 3, 85, -122, 0, 0, 0, 0
27) Riley Herbst #, 35, 5, 0, 79, -128, 6, 0, 0, 0
28) Justin Haley, 7, 5, -2, 78, -129, 1, 0, 0, 0
29) Zane Smith, 38, 5, 3, 77, -130, 1, 0, 0, 0
30) Brad Keselowski, 6, 5, -3, 73, -134, 4, 0, 0, 0
31) Shane Van Gisbergen #, 88, 5, 9, 72, -135, 1, 0, 0, 0
32) Austin Dillon, 3, 5, 7, 71, -136, 1, 0, 0, 0
33) Noah Gragson, 4, 5, 2, 59, -148, 12, 0, 0, 0
34) Ty Gibbs, 54, 5, 0, 56, -151, 3, 0, 0, 0
35) Cole Custer, 41, 5, 0, 47, -160, 9, 0, 0, 0
36) Jimmie Johnson, , 1, 0, 34, -173, 13, 0, 0, 0
37) Cody Ware, 51, 5, 0, 24, -183, 10, 0, 0, 0
38) Corey Lajoie, , 2, 0, 21, -186, 3, 0, 0, 0
39) Katherine Legge, , 1, 0, 7, -200, 14, 0, 0, 0
40) Jj Yeley, , 1, 0, 1, -206, 6, 0, 0, 0
41) Martin Truex, Jr, , 1, 0, 1, -206, 0, 0, 0, 0
42) Justin Allgaier(i), , 1, 0, 0, -207, 1, 0, 0, 0
43) Bj Mcleod(i), , 1, 0, 0, -207, 0, 0, 0, 0
44) Connor Zilisch(i), , 1, 0, 0, -207, 0, 0, 0, 0
45) Chandler Smith(i), , 0, 2, 0, -207, 0, 0, 0, 0
46) Anthony Alfredo(i), , 0, 0, 0, -207, 0, 0, 0, 0
47) Helio Castroneves, , 1, -2, 0, -207, 0, 0, 0, 0
-Ldr/-Nxt = Points behind Leader/Next higher, (i) Ineligible for driver points in this series