Josh Berry passed Daniel SuΓ‘rez after a late restart and raced on to his first Cup Series victory.
LAS VEGAS β Josh Berry earned his first NASCAR Cup Series victory with a late race move that sent him and the iconic No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford to victory lane.
Berry passed Daniel SuΓ‘rez with 13 laps to go after a restart and paced his way to victory about one second ahead of the next car.Β
“I love this track. Las Vegas has been so good to me,” Berry said, referring to his two NASCAR Xfinity wins at the track. “Everybody at Wood Brothers Racing gave me a good car today.”
SuΓ‘rez finished second, Ryan Preece finished third, Ross Chastain finished fourth, and Alex Bowman finished fifth. Kyle Larson led a race-high 61 laps in the 267-lap event and finished ninth.
“Definitely a little disappointed,” SuΓ‘rez said after running near the front for most of the race. “We did everything right.. amazing job on strategy on pit stops. Just a little bit off on the short run.”
Sunday’s race featured a record-setting 32 lead changes, beating the previous record of 27.
Fuel strategy became the defining focus of the race in the last stage. Several teams opted to hit pit road on a caution just after the stage break, while others stayed out and rolled the dice. A caution with 25 laps left put everyone on the same strategy, allowing a big advantage to those who stayed out before, like Berry and SuΓ‘rez.
Loose wheels and other pit road problems hurt many top contenders on Sunday. Chase Briscoe lost a wheel after an early green flag pit stop, forcing the race’s first caution. Briscoe’s crew chief and tire changer are likely to be suspended for the next two races because of the incident.
Kyle Busch’s solid run ended on lap 113 when a wheel and rim left his car. Busch led laps earlier in the race until a pit road speeding penalty put him back in traffic. Busch finished 33rd, 35 laps down.
Christopher Bell, who was seeking a modern record-tying fourth straight win, suffered a loose wheel after a pit stop. His team noticed the error before he left pit road, and he had it worked on by a Joe Gibbs Racing teammate’s crew, resulting in a penalty being enforced on the restart. Bell finished 12th.
Berry’s win is the 101st victory for Wood Brothers Racing, NASCAR’s longest running team. The team’s last win was at Daytona in August 2024 with Harrison Burton.
The NASCAR Cup Series is back in action on Sunday, March 23 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Tyler Reddick is the defending winner.
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