Josh Berry clawed his way to his first NASCAR Cup Series win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, outmuscling Daniel Suárez in a bruising 19-lap sprint following a safety car period to claim Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube. The Wood Brothers Racing No. 21 Ford roared across the line 1.358 seconds ahead, marking Berry as the fourth straight driver to notch his maiden Cup triumph in that storied ride—a victory soaked in sweat, metal, and Vegas dust.
Berry, who’d twice tamed this 1.5-mile beast in the Xfinity Series, finally cracked the Cup code. “Oh, man, I don’t even know what to think,” he said, hauling himself from the Mustang on the frontstretch, voice raw with disbelief. “Just unreal. I love this track. Las Vegas has been so good to me. So many great moments here. Just struggled in the Next Gen car here. But (crew chief) Miles (Stanley) and this whole 21 team, everybody at Wood Brothers Racing, they gave me a great car today. Just battled and battled and battled. Man, it was our day. I just can’t believe it. Such a battle with Daniel there at the end, beating and banging on a mile-and-a-half — wild! Whoever was going to get out front was probably going to win. We were able to get in front.”
The clash with Suárez ignited after a Lap 249 restart, side-by-side and snarling. Suárez clung to the lead like a pitbull until Lap 252, when Berry nosed ahead at the stripe. Lap 253 was a dead heat, inches apart, but Berry’s No. 21 cleared the No. 99 Trackhouse Chevy through the tri-oval on Lap 254, seizing clean air and bolting to the 101st win for the Wood Brothers—hot on the heels of Harrison Burton’s century mark last year.
Suárez, gutted but proud, dissected the fight: “We did everything right, you know? The team did an amazing job on the strategy, pit stops. We did everything right. Our car was fast. We just struggled a little bit in the short run. I mentioned to my crew chief just a little bit ago, before the last run, I told him, ‘Hey, we want to be up front, I need a little bit better short run. I am having too much contact (with the bumps in the racing surface) in (Turns) 1 and 2.’ Unfortunately, I feel like that’s why we lost the race, just a little bit too much contact. I mean, I almost wrecked in 1 and 2.” His Chevy kissed the edge, but Berry’s Ford held the line.
Chaos Hands Berry His Shot
The race—a 267-lap brawl with 32 lead changes among 13 drivers—tilted on a Lap 195 pile-up. Seven cars tangled on the backstretch, flipping the field as a caution hit mid-green-flag stops. Kyle Larson, Stage 2 winner with 61 laps led, had pitted on Lap 197, dropping to 18th for the Lap 201 restart. Berry, restarting seventh, worked the high line like a maestro, snatching the lead from Suárez on Lap 234—only to lose it to champ Joey Logano two laps later.
Then came Lap 243. Noah Gragson’s Turn 2 wall-smack—the ninth yellow—wiped out fuel worries and reset the deck. Suárez’s crew nailed a four-tire stop, reclaiming the lead, with Berry second off pit road. Logano? A botched stop sank him 19 spots. Berry didn’t flinch, hunting Suárez down in a duel that’d make Jack Renn grin—two bulls, horns locked, paint swapped, pure stock-car soul.
After clearing Suárez, Berry stretched his legs, the gap widening as the Vegas roar faded behind him. Ryan Preece nabbed third, William Byron led a Hendrick quartet in fourth, and Ross Chastain’s tire gamble landed fifth. Austin Cindric, Alex Bowman, AJ Allmendinger, Larson, and Chase Elliott rounded out the top 10—Hendrick’s depth shining despite Larson’s fade to ninth.
Pit Road Pandemonium
Pit lane was a circus. Chase Briscoe and Kyle Busch shed loose wheels—Briscoe clawing back from four laps down to 17th, Busch fading further. Cindric led 47 laps, Logano 40, Tyler Reddick 34, Bubba Wallace 20, and Berry’s 18 proved enough. But Christopher Bell’s shot at a fourth straight win? Torpedoed on Lap 107 when Shane van Gisbergen’s spin brought yellow. Bell, starting rear after a throttle body swap, had muscled to second, only for his front tire changer to botch the left-front lug. After frantic radio communication, he pitted in Briscoe’s box for a fix, copping a penalty that dumped him to the tail. He languished in 27th by Stage 2’s end, grip gone, finishing 12th after a brief two-tire rally to sixth.
Larson’s reign was undone by that Lap 195 mess. Berry got his chance when a Lap 195 caution for a seven-car wreck on the backstretch interrupted a cycle of green-flag pit stops, flipping control from the No. 5 Chevy. The high line became Berry’s ally, a nod to Jack Renn’s old-school hustle—run it hard, run it smart, and don’t look back.
Suárez’s Near Miss
Suárez’s No. 99 had the legs, but not the lungs for the short haul. His bumps battle in Turns 1 and 2—where the Next Gen car punishes mistakes—left him teetering. “We were able to get in front,” Berry said, relishing the scrap, while Suárez rued the fine margins: “I almost wrecked in 1 and 2.” That near-miss handed Berry the clean air he craved, turning a dogfight into a runaway.
The win snapped Bell’s streak and cemented Berry’s name alongside Wood Brothers first-timers—Renn would’ve tipped his cap to that lineage. Post-race inspection cleared the No. 21, though the Nos. 1, 2, 20, and 24 headed to Concord for a deeper look. For Berry, it’s a Vegas tale of triumph—two Xfinity wins here now dwarfed by a Cup crown that roared through the desert night.
