Josh Berry cashed in on a dream opportunity driving for the legendary Wood Brothers Racing organization by earning his first NASCAR Cup Series career victory in the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday, March 16.
The 34-year-old Berry from Hendersonville, Tennessee, led twice for 18 of 267 scheduled laps in an event where he qualified in seventh place. He executed a smooth, methodical performance on the track towards the front as he finished in the top 10 at the conclusion of the event’s two stage periods.
Then, amid a late fuel-mileage battle, Berry, who rallied from making an extra pit stop to have a wheel tightened prior to the start of the final stage period, cycled past Daniel Suarez for the lead for the first time with 35 laps remaining. He was cruising out in front before he was overtaken by Joey Logano four laps later.
When Noah Gragson blew a right-front tire and wrecked with 25 laps remaining, an opportunity presented itself for Berry. He entered and exited pit road in second place behind Suarez following a strong pit service while Logano lost a bevy of spots due to a slow pit service.
During the final restart period with 19 laps remaining, Berry was briefly outdueled by Suarez before he tracked the former down three laps later. During another late-race battle, Berry muscled ahead and cleared Suarez for the lead with 14 laps remaining. With the lead in his possession, Berry spent the final 14 laps cruising and extending his advantage to more than a second. Finally, he fulfilled his lifelong dream by scoring his first win in NASCAR’s premier series in Sin City.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, March 15, Michael McDowell notched his first Cup pole position of the 2025 season with a pole-winning lap at 186.961 mph in 28.883 seconds. Joining McDowell on the front row was Joey Logano, the latter of whom clocked in his best qualifying lap at 186.864 mph in 28.898 seconds.
Prior to the event, several drivers. dropped to the rear of the due to unapproved adjustments to their vehicles, including Christopher Bell, rookie Riley Herbst, John Hunter Nemechek and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries. Ryan Blaney also started at the rear of the field due to not posting a qualifying lap while his No. 12 Team Penske Ford team repaired the primary car he had wrecked during Saturday’s practice session.
When the green flag waved and the event commenced, Michael McDowell and Joey Logano dueled for the lead as the field fanned out entering the first two turns. Both McDowell and Logano remained dead even for the lead through the backstretch and through Turns 3 and 4 before McDowell managed to lead the first lap by a nose.
During the second lap, Logano used the inside lane to muscle his No. 22 Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry ahead of McDowell through Turns 3 and 4 as Logano proceeded to lead a lap for himself. Logano would proceed to lead through the fifth lap mark over McDowell as Austin Cindric, William Byron, Alex Bowman and Kyle Busch followed suit in the top-six.
Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Logano led by half a second over McDowell as Cindric, Byron, Bowman, Busch, Erik Jones, Zane Smith, Kyle Larson and Josh Berry were racing in the top 10, respectively. Behind, Bubba Wallace, Tyler Reddick, Ross Chastain, Chase Elliott and Denny Hamlin occupied the top-15 spots ahead of Austin Dillon, Daniel Suarez, AJ Allmendinger, Chris Buescher and Ryan Preece. Meanwhile, Chase Briscoe, Brad Keselowski, Carson Hocevar, Ryan Blaney, Ty Dillon, Cole Custer, Noah Gragson, Christopher Bell, rookie Shane van Gisbergen and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. were mired in the top 30. Ty Gibbs, John Hunter Nemechek, Todd Gilliland, Justin Haley, rookie Riley Herbst and Cody Ware rounded out the 37-car field.
Fifteen laps later, Logano retained the lead by six-tenths of a second over teammate Cindric, the latter of whom assumed the runner-up spot eight laps earlier. Behind, Hendrick Motorsports’ Byron and Bowman moved up to third and fourth, respectively, while McDowell dropped to fifth place. Busch, Jones and Larson followed suit in the top eight while Reddick, who started in 14th place, was up to ninth place ahead of Elliott, Zane Smith, Berry, Wallace, Chastain and Suarez.
At the Lap 30 mark, Blaney, who was racing in the top-20 mark, pitted his No. 12 Pennzoil/Menards Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry, but he encountered a slow pit service and dropped out of the lead lap category. Another lap later, more names including Ross Chastain, Austin Dillon, Chase Briscoe, Brad Keselowski, Chris Buescher, Zane Smith and the leader Logano pitted before more names including the new leader Cindric, Bowman, Byron, McDowell, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Preece, Shane van Gisbergen and Ty Gibbs pitted their respective entries.
Then, during the green flag pit stops, the event’s first caution flew on Lap 33 when a left-rear wheel rolled out of Chase Briscoe’s No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry XSE entry just as Briscoe re-entered the track following his pit service. The wheel rolling out of his entry cost Briscoe two laps from the leaders. At the time of caution, Kyle Busch, one of several competitors who had yet to pit, was leading.
During the caution period, the top 19 competitors led by Kyle Busch pitted for their first round of service. The rest, led by Cindric, remained on the track. Following the pit stops, both Busch and Hamlin were penalized for speeding while entering pit road.
The beginning of the next restart on Lap 40 featured Cindric and Alex Bowman dueling for the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch. As the field fanned out, Bowman used the outside lane to edge his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet entry ahead through Turns 3 and 4 and lead the following lap over Cindric. Cindric then tried to use the inside lane through the first two turns to move in front of Bowman, but Bowman fought back, using the outside lane to lead the following lap by a nose for a second time. Amid the side-by-side battle between Cindric and Bowman, Wallace and Elliott battled for third place in front of Reddick, Logano, Berry and Allmendinger.
On Lap 43, Wallace, who caught Cindric and Bowman, battled with the latter for the runner-up spot as Elliott pursued within close range. With Bowman managing to fend off Wallace and Elliott for second place through the backstretch, Cindric muscled his No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry away with a steady advantage by Lap 45. Cindric stretched his advantage to a second over Bowman at the Lap 50 mark as Elliott, Wallace and Logano gave chase in the top five. Behind Logano, Berry pursued in the top six as Allmendinger, Hocevar, Reddick, Larson, Bell and Byron trailed in the top 12.
By Lap 60, Cindric continued to lead by nine-tenths of a second over Bowman, while third-place Bowman and fourth-place Wallace trailed by more than two seconds. Meanwhile, Berry, who cracked the top five, trailed the lead by four seconds while Logano, Allmendinger, Larson, Reddick and Hocevar followed suit in the top 10.
Over the next five laps, Logano, who was running within the top-five mark earlier, lost three positions on the track as he was overtaken by Berry, Allmendinger and Larson. As a result, Logano dropped to eighth place while teammate Cindric had his lead decreased to three-tenths of a second over Bowman. Amid Bowman’s charge, Cindric, who navigated his way through the lapped competitor of Cody Ware, maintained the lead by two-tenths of a second at the Lap 70 mark.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 80, Cindric, who stretched his advantage back up to more than one-and-a-half seconds, captured his first Cup stage victory of the 2025 season. Bowman followed suit in second ahead of Elliott, Wallace and Larson while Allmendinger, Logano, Berry, Hocevar and Bell were scored in the top 10, respectively.
Under the stage break, the lead lap field, led by Cindri,c peeled off the track to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Elliott exited pit road first ahead of Wallace, Cindric, Larson, Bowman, Berry, Logano, Bell, Suarez and Hocevar, respectively. Shortly after, however, Elliott was penalized for speeding on pit road.
The second stage period started on Lap 88 as Wallace and Cindric occupied the front row. At the start, Wallace rocketed his No. 23 U.S. Air Force Toyota Camry XSE entry ahead from the field using the inside lane. Wallace led through the first two turns and the backstretch before Larson used the outside lane to draw even with Wallace. Wallace, though, would muscle back ahead through the frontstretch’s inside lane and lead the following lap. As Wallace led, Larson and Cindric gave chase, while Logano and Bowman followed in pursuit. Bowman, however, would make an unscheduled pit stop under green to address a vibration to his entry on Lap 90.
Just past the Lap 95 mark, Larson started to reel in Wallace for the lead. He trailed Wallace by only two-tenths of a second. Larson would then overtake Wallace for the top spot through the frontstretch at the Lap 100 mark. He proceeded to lead by nearly half a second over Wallace. Bell charged his No. 20 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry XSE entry up to third place. Logano, Byron, Berry, Cindric, Allmendinger, Hocevar and Reddick were racing in the top 10.
On Lap 107, the caution flew when Shane van Gisbergen, who was racing in the top-30 mark, spun his No. 88 Red Bull Chevrolet entry below the backstretch. At the time of caution, Bell had assumed the runner-up spot over Wallace. And, Berry had overtaken Logano for fifth place while Larson was still leading the event.
During the caution period, the leaders led by Larson returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Wallace reassumed the lead. He edged Byron off of pit road first while Larson, Reddick, Berry, Hocevar, Suarez, Allmendinger, Logano and Noah Gragson followed suit in the top 10. Amid the pit stops, Ty Gibbs, who was scored a lap down, was penalized for speeding on pit road. Bell was also penalized for pitting outside of his pit box, where he stopped in teammate Chase Briscoe’s pit box to have a left-front wheel tightened. Not long after, Cindric made a second pit stop to address a potential loose wheel on his entry.
The start of the next restart period on Lap 112 did not last long after Kyle Busch, who restarted in the top-12 mark, snapped sideways entering the backstretch and hit the outside wall. The entire right-rear wheel then rolled out of Busch’s No. 8 BetMGM Chevrolet entry. Amid the issue, Busch managed to nurse his entry back to his pit stall, but he was penalized two laps due to the entire wheel coming off of the entry. At the time of caution, Byron had assumed the lead over teammate Larson and Wallace. During the caution period, Bowman and McDowell pitted their respective entries, but both were penalized for speeding on pit road.
As the event restarted under green on Lap 119, the field fanned out. Teammates Byron and Larson dueled in front of 23XI Racing’s Wallace and Reddick. Then, after dueling with Byron through the first two turns and the backstretch, Larson received a push from Reddick to muscle the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet entry ahead. Larson led the following lap while Reddick challenged Byron for the runner-up spot. Behind, Wallace fended off Suarez and Hocevar for fourth place as Berry led a bevy of competitors to challenge Hocevar for sixth place.
Just past the Lap 125 mark, Larson retained the lead by three-tenths of a second over teammate Byron. Reddick, Wallace and Suarez followed suit in the top five. Meanwhile, Bell, who was trying to recover from his pit road penalty, was mired in 31st place and teammate Hamlin was racing inside the top-25 mark. While van Gisbergen pitted under green to address a flat right-front tire, Reddick closed in on Hendrick Motorsports’ Larson and Byron for the lead as the trio was separated by six-tenths of a second by Lap 130.
Through the Lap 145 mark, Larson extended his advantage to more than a second over Reddick, the latter of whom assumed the runner-up spot from Byron two laps earlier. Meanwhile, Wallace trailed in fourth place by three seconds while Suarez retained fifth place ahead of Berry, Hocevar, Allmendinger, Buescher and Logano, respectively.
Two laps later, the caution flew when Todd Gilliland, who was battling Ricky Stenhouse Jr. for 14th place, slowly went up the track and hit the outside wall entering the frontstretch. The contact with the wall shot Gilliland into the side of Stenhouse before the former veered sideways and hit the outside wall again in his NO. 34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry. At the time of caution, Kyle Busch, who was in the garage to have his entry repaired, returned to pit road and was forced to serve his two-lap penalty for the loose wheel.
During the caution period, the lead lap field, led by Larson, pitted for service. Following the pit stops and amid mixed strategies, Chastain, Erik Jones and Hamlin exited pit road first after the trio opted for only two fresh tires. Behind, Larson, Wallace, Byron, Suarez, Reddick, Berry and Hocevar, all of whom opted for four fresh tires, followed suit.
With 13 laps remaining in the second stage period, the race restarted under green. Chastain and Jones dueled in front of Hamlin, Larson, Wallace, Byron and the field through the first two turns. As the field fanned out through the backstretch, Chastain muscled his No. 1 Kubota Chevrolet entry ahead from the inside lane while Larson made a daring three-wide move in between Byron and Jones in a bid for the runner-up spot.
The trio remained dead even against one another during the following lap until Wallace pushed Jones’s No. 43 Dollar Tree Toyota Camry XSE entry ahead of Larson and Byron through the backstretch. As Jones muscled ahead with second place, Wallace was pinned in a three-wide battle with Larson and Byron for third place while Hocevar, Berry, Hamlin and Suarez gave chase. Amid the battles, Chastain maintained the lead by half a second with 10 laps remaining in the second stage period.
With eight laps remaining, Jones, who was battling Wallace for fourth place, went wide through the first two turns after he got loose. This dropped Jones to ninth place in the leaderboard and Wallace moved up to fourth place behind Larson while Byron started to reel in on Chastain for the lead. Another two laps later, Larson joined the battle for the lead before Byron used the outside lane to overtake Chastain for the lead through Turns 3 and 4. Teammate Larson would quickly follow suit on his four fresh tires and he pursued Byron for the lead while Chastain fell back to third place.
Then, with three laps remaining in the second stage period, Larson got underneath teammate Byron through the backstretch and he used Turns 3 and 4 to assume the lead. As Larson led the following lap, Hocevar reeled in on Wallace for fourth place while Chastain retained third place.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 165, Larson captured the stage victory and became the first Cup Series competitor to notch multiple stage victories in the 2025 season. Teammate Byron settled in second ahead of Chastain, Wallace and Hocevar while Blaney, Suarez, Berry, Reddick and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. were scored in the top 10, respectively.
During the stage break, nearly the entire lead lap field, led by Larson, returned to pit road for service while McDowell and Austin Dillon remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Suarez exited pit road first following a two-tire pit stop. Larson, Byron, Wallace, Chastain, Blaney, Berry, Gragson, Preece and Reddick, all of whom went with a four-tire pit service, followed suit.
Amid the pit stops, Hocevar had to reverse his entry to avoid hitting Ty Gibbs while trying to exit his pit stall. In addition, Riley Herbst and Ty Dillon were sent to the tail end of the field due to speeding on pit road and removing equipment, respectively. Soon after, Berry made an extra pit stop to have his right front wheel tightened.
With 94 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as McDowell and Austin Dillon occupied the front row. At the start, McDowell rocketed his No. 71 Group 1001 Chevrolet entry ahead from the inside lane, while Larson wasted no time going in between Suarez and Dillon while charging on his four fresh tires. As Dillon lost a bevy of spots through the first two turns, McDowell retained the lead through the backstretch until Larson used the outside lane entering the frontstretch to reassume the lead.
As Larson led the following lap, Suarez assumed the runner-up spot from McDowell while Byron, Chastain and Wallace followed suit. Over the next three laps, Byron dueled with Suarez for the runner-up spot in front of Chastain, McDowell, Wallace, Blaney, Gragson, Reddick and Stenhouse while Larson led with 90 laps remaining.
Down to the final 80 laps of the event, Larson was leading by more than a second over teammate Wallace, while Trackhouse Racing’s Chastain and Suarez followed suit in third and fourth, respectively. Behind, Blaney outdueled Wallace for fifth place as Reddick started to reel in on teammate Wallace for sixth place.
Shortly after, the caution returned after Cody Ware spun and hit the wall through Turns 3 and 4. During the caution period, the leaders led by Larson returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Chastain exited pit road first following a two-tire pit stop while Larson, Cindric, Elliott, Suarez, Byron, Blaney, Bell, Gragson and Reddick, all of whom pitted for four fresh tires, followed suit. Amid the pit stops, Hocevar and Ty Gibbs made contact on pit road, as Hocevar hit and spun Gibbs while trying to exit pit road, resulting in Gibbs sitting backward in his pit box. Not long after, Bowman and Gilliland returned to pit road to top off their fuel tanks.
With the event restarting under green with 73 laps remaining, the field fanned out as Suarez, who restarted as the third competitor on the inside lane, was cut off by Cindric amid contact and the former’s bid to go underneath the latter for position. Then, as Larson dueled with Chastain for the lead, the caution quickly returned when a stack-up within the fanned-out field resulted in Stenhouse getting hit and sent for a spin by Allmendinger.
In front of Stenhouse’s incident, more trouble ensued as Wallace, Gragson and Blaney squeezed against one another, resulting in Blaney getting turned and Wallace being pinned against the wall. As Blaney spun, Jones also spun and they collided against one another while spinning as Austin Dillon and Wallace were also left with damage to their respective entries.
During the caution period, multiple drivers, including Larson, Elliott, Chastain, Byron, Cindric, and Bell pitted while the rest, led by the new leader Reddick, remained on the track. Not long after, Elliott would pit a second time for left-side tires.
As the event restarted under green with 67 laps remaining, the field fanned out again as Reddick muscled his No 45 The Beast Toyota Camry XSE entry ahead with the lead. With Reddick leading, Suarez and McDowell dueled for second place before the former cleared the latter. Reddick led the following lap while Preece, Hamlin, Gragson and Berry pursued Suarez and McDowell for top-three spots.
Berry and Hamlin battled for sixth place behind Gragson as Logano navigated up to eighth place in front of Allmendinger and Bowman while Reddick retained the lead over the next two laps. With van Gisbergen trying to limp his entry to pit road after making contact with the wall, Byron, Elliott, Bell and Larson were all trying to navigate their way back to the front while Reddick led with 60 laps remaining.
With 50 laps remaining and fuel strategy within the field beginning to brew, Reddick continued to lead by three-tenths of a second over Suarez. Behind, McDowell, Hamlin and Preece were racing in the top five. Logano, Berry, Bowman and Allmendinger followed suit in the top nine, respectively. Meanwhile, Chastain, who pitted during the recent caution period, carved his way back up to 10th place while Ty Dillon, Cindric, Gragson, Byron and Zane Smith occupied the top-15 spots. Behind, Larson was mired in 16th place ahead of Bell, Briscoe, Keselowski and Buescher, while John Hunter Nemechek, Elliott, Justin Haley, Stenhouse and Cole Custer were mired in the top 25, respectively.
Another 10 laps later, Reddick retained the lead by two-tenths of a second over Suarez, while Hamlin, who assumed third place earlier, trailed the lead by four-tenths of a second. Behind, Logano moved up to fourth place while trailing the lead by seven-tenths of a second, while fifth-place Berry trailed by more than a second.
Then, a lap later, Suarez and Reddick dueled for the lead. Amid their side-by-side battle, Logano dueled with Hamlin for third place as Berry closed in. By the time Logano cleared Hamlin for third place with 37 laps remaining, Suarez claimed the lead from Reddick. Logano and Hamlin would proceed to challenge Reddick for the runner-up spot another lap later, which also allowed Berry to reel in before Berry assumed third place from Logano. Hamlin then pitted his No. 11 Yahoo! Toyota Camry XSE entry under green while Suarez maintained the lead over Reddick.
With 35 laps remaining, Reddick then pitted from the runner-up spot. During Reddick’s pit stop, Berry cycled past Suarez for the lead and was pursued by a hard-charging Logano. With both Reddick and Hamlin pinned a lap down following their respective pit stops, McDowell and Bowman cycled into the top five. Berry maintained the lead over Logano with 32 laps remaining. Logano then got underneath Berry through the backstretch and assumed the lead with 31 laps remaining.
With 25 laps remaining, the caution flew when Noah Gragson blew a right-front tire and smacked the outside wall through the first two turns. Gragson’s incident occurred seconds after Kyle Busch, who was more than 30 laps down, scrubbed the outside wall through the first two turns but managed to steer his car below the apron and limp back to pit road.
During the caution period, the lead lap field, led by Logano, peeled off the track to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Suarez exited pit road first ahead of Berry, Preece, Chastain, Bowman, Cindric, Larson, Allmendinger, Byron and Buescher as Logano, who received a slow pit service, plummeted to 20th place.
The start of the next restart with 19 to go featured Suarez and Berry dueling for the lead through the first two turns as the field fanned out to multiple lanes. Both Suarez and Berry continued to duel through the backstretch until Chastain gave teammate Suarez a push to shove the No. 99 Freeway Insurance Chevrolet entry ahead through Turns 3 and 4. Suarez would proceed to lead the following lap ahead of Berry, Chastain, Byron and Preece. Cindric moved into sixth place ahead of a three-wide action involving Bowman, Allmendinger and Larson. Elliott and Buescher battled for ninth place in front of Bell and Keselowski, while Logano was mired in the top 20. Amid the battles within the field, Suarez retained the lead over Berry, Chastain and Byron.
Then, with 16 laps remaining, Berry made his move beneath Suarez for the lead through the first two turns. Berry continued to duel with Suarez for a full lap and led one lap as Suarez kept racing dead even with Berry for the top spot at the start/finish line with 14 laps remaining. With 13 laps remaining, Berry then used the inside lane to muscle his No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry ahead and clear Suarez Preece battled Chastain for third place while Byron, who battled Chastain earlier, followed suit.
Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Berry was leading by eight-tenths of a second over Suarez, while Preece, Chastain and Byron continued to follow suit in the top five, respectively. By then, Cindric, Allmendinger, Bowman, Larson and Elliott trailed in the top 10, respectively, as Berry stabilized his lead to nearly a second over the next five laps.
With five laps remaining, Berry retained the lead by more than a second over Suarez while third-place Preece trailed by three seconds. By then, top-five racers Chastain and Byron also trailed the lead by three seconds and sixth-place Cindric trailed by more than four seconds, while Berry continued to slowly drive away with the top spot.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Berry remained in the lead by more than a second over Suarez. With Suarez unable to narrow the deficit between himself and the leader. Berry navigated his way through lapped traffic and smoothly cycled his way around the Vegas circuit for a final time before he wheeled back to the frontstretch and streaked across the finish line in first place for his first career checkered flag in NASCAR’s premier series.
With the victory, Berry, who was coming off a strong fourth-place finish at Phoenix Raceway, became the 206th competitor overall to win in the Cup Series division. He is also the 20th competitor overall to notch a Cup victory while driving the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford entry. Berry, who joined William Byron and Christopher Bell as Cup Series race winners through the first six scheduled events of the 2025 season, also became the first competitor to record a first Cup career win in Sin City, Nevada.
The victory was the 101st for the Wood Brothers Racing, the organization’s first at Las Vegas and the organization’s first since Harrison Burton steered his way to his first Cup victory in August 2024 at Daytona International Speedway. In addition, crew chief Miles Stanley achieved his first win atop the pit box.
“Oh man, I don’t even know what to think,” Berry said on the frontstretch on FS1. “Just awesome. I love this track. Las Vegas has been so good to me. I’ve had so many great moments here. [I] Just struggled in the Next Gen car here, but man, [crew chief Stanley] Miles and this whole No. 21 team, everybody at Wood Brothers Racing, they gave me a great car today. We just battled and battled and battled. Man, it was our day. I just can’t believe it. Such a battle with Daniel [Suarez] there at the end. Beating and banging at a mile and a half [track] is crazy, but whoever was gonna get out in front was probably gonna win and we were able to get it from him.”
“It’s just incredible,” Berry added. “[Wood Brothers Racing]’ve just been so good to me. It’s just been a great relationship. Obviously, [I] thank everybody at Wood Brothers Racing, but Team Penske as well. They welcomed me with open arms and tried to help me and accelerate this learning process as much as I can. I really can’t say enough for Miles Stanley. He is so good at what he is doing and we have a great thing going on together. He really believes in me. Man, we’re just gonna enjoy this moment.”
Suarez, who led 12 laps compared to Berry’s 18, settled in second place for his first top-five finish of the 2025 campaign. Amid the disappointment of being one position shy of claiming his first victory of the year, Suarez was left pleased with his result. Previously, he had finished no higher than 13th and was coming off three consecutive finishes outside the top-20 mark, including two DNFs.
“[I’m] Definitely a little disappointed, but first of all, congratulations to the No. 21 team and Josh [Berry],” Suarez said. “They did a great job. They’ve been fast lately. They’ve been in contention, so congratulations to them. We did everything right. 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. Unfortunately, I feel like that’s why we lost the race. [I] Just had a little bit too much contact. I almost wrecked in [Turns] 1 and 2, but overall, just very, very proud of everyone at Trackhouse [Racing]. We’ve been working very hard and it’s showing. Solid effort.”
Ryan Preece, who was coming off a strong 15th-place result at Phoenix Raceway, doubled down by tying his career-best result in the Cup Series with a third-place effort. William Byron and Ross Chastain, both of whom led a combined 24 laps, came home in fourth and fifth, respectively.
Austin Cindric, Alex Bowman, AJ Allmendinger, Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott completed the top 10 in the final running order.
Notably, Christopher Bell, who was pursuing a fourth consecutive Cup victory to commence the 2025 season, ended up in 12th place behind Brad Keselowski. In addition, the following names that included Joey Logano, pole-sitter Michael McDowell, Chase Briscoe, rookie Riley Herbst, Ty Gibbs, Tyler Reddick, Denny Hamlin, Erik Jones, Bubba Wallace, Carson Hocevar, Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch, rookie Shane van Gisbergen and Ryan Blaney ended up 15th, 16th, 17th, 19th, 22nd, 24th, 25th, 27th, 28th, 30th, 32nd, 33rd, 34th and 35th, respectively.
There were a record 32 lead changes for 13 different leaders. The race featured nine cautions for 53 laps. In addition, 26 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the fifth event of the 2025 Cup Series season, William Byron leads the regular-season standings by 29 points over Christopher Bell, 48 over both Tyler Reddick and teammate Chase Elliott, 51 over teammate Alex Bowman and 55 over teammate Kyle Larson.
Race Results.
1. Josh Berry, 18 laps led
2. Daniel Suarez, 12 laps led
3. Ryan Preece
4. William Byron, 10 laps led
5. Ross Chastain, 14 laps led
6. Austin Cindric, 47 laps led, Stage 1 winner
7. Alex Bowman, two laps led
8. AJ Allmendinger
9. Kyle Larson, 61 laps led, Stage 2 winner
10. Chase Elliott
11. Brad Keselowski
12. Christopher Bell
13. Chris Buescher
14. Justin Haley
15. Joey Logano, 40 laps led
16. Michael McDowell, five laps led
17. Chase Briscoe
18. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
19. Riley Herbst
20. John Hunter Nemechek
21. Ty Dillon
22. Ty Gibbs
23. Zane Smith
24. Tyler Reddick, 34 laps led
25. Denny Hamlin
26. Cole Custer
27. Erik Jones, one lap down, one lap led
28. Bubba Wallace, one lap down, 20 laps led
29. Todd Gilliland, two laps down
30. Carson Hocevar, two laps down
31. Noah Gragson – OUT, Accident
32. Austin Dillon, 27 laps down
33. Kyle Busch, 35 laps down, three laps led
34. Shane van Gisbergen – OUT, Accident
35. Ryan Blaney – OUT, Accident
36. Cody Ware – OUT, Accident
Next on the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season is Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Florida, for the Straight Talk Wireless 400. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, March 23, and air at 3 p.m. ET on FS1.
