The NASCAR Cup Series playoffs are living up to their reputation for drama, and this weekend at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois, was no exception. For Josh Berry and the storied Wood Brothers team, however, the second race of the postseason brought more heartbreak than hope. After an early exit at Darlington last week, Berry’s playoff campaign took another devastating hit when contact from Chase Elliott sent the No. 21 Ford careening into the outside wall, leaving his postseason fate hanging by a thread.
It was a familiar, if unwelcome, sight for Berry fans. Just a week ago, Berry was out of the Cook Out Southern 400 on Lap 1, his playoff hopes already teetering. This time, he managed to make it a bit further before disaster struck. The incident unfolded as the field went three-wide, with Elliott’s No. 9 Chevrolet making contact with Berry’s left rear quarter panel. The result? Berry’s car was sent spinning into the barrier, the left front wheel barely clinging to the chassis as the car limped to a halt. The garage beckoned, and with it, another early end to Berry’s race.
“To me, it looked like you were checked up from the 38, and the 9 drove it in there on the inside. It looks like he got our left rear quarter,” a frustrated member of Berry’s team was heard saying over the radio, according to Kelly Crandall of RACER. Berry, ever the professional, responded, “He washed up off the bottom, right? I saw it coming. I left a little bit of space.” The disappointment was palpable, but so too was the sense of resignation. Sometimes, in racing, there’s just nowhere to go.
This latest setback couldn’t have come at a worse time for Berry. After two consecutive early exits, he now finds himself 43 points below the playoff cutline and nearly 20 points adrift of the next driver ahead in the standings. If the current numbers hold—and if this were the final race of the Round of 16—Berry, along with Joey Logano, Austin Dillon, and Alex Bowman, would be the first four drivers eliminated from championship contention. With only the Bristol Night Race remaining in the opening round, Berry is now in a must-win situation. The stakes could hardly be higher.
For the Wood Brothers, one of NASCAR’s most historic teams, the frustration is twofold. On the one hand, they’ve made the playoffs two years running and even captured a race victory during that span—a testament to their enduring competitiveness in a sport that’s grown increasingly cutthroat. On the other, the cruel twists of fate that have befallen Berry in back-to-back weeks have all but dashed their hopes of a deep playoff run this season. Still, the team will benefit from the financial rewards of playoff participation, and there’s hope that another year of experience and chemistry between Berry and the crew could yield greater success down the road.
The incident itself was a classic product of high-stakes playoff racing. Three-wide battles at Gateway are always fraught with risk, and while Berry did his best to leave room, Elliott’s aggressive move on the inside proved costly for both drivers. It’s worth noting that Elliott, too, entered this weekend’s race with a sense of urgency. After a 17th-place finish in last week’s Cook Out Southern 400 at Darlington—where an untimely caution in Stage 2 derailed his strategy—Elliott found himself in an early hole in the playoff standings. “It was a really long night,” Elliott told USA after Darlington. “Yeah, we had clawed our way up to the top 10 and tried to run really long on that one run. Everyone was being real aggressive with short-pitting so we tried to run long. And then yeah, as soon as we did that, the caution came out.”
Elliott’s experience at Gateway has been limited. He missed the 2023 race while serving a suspension for illegal contact with Denny Hamlin at the Coca-Cola 600, leaving him with one less race of experience at the Illinois track compared to his playoff rivals. His previous Gateway results—a 21st-place finish in 2022 and 13th in 2024—weren’t exactly confidence-inspiring, and the 2024 race was won by Austin Cindric, not Elliott. All told, Elliott’s playoff run has been marked by adversity, and the contact with Berry only adds another layer to his challenging postseason campaign.
Meanwhile, the broader playoff picture continues to evolve. Chase Briscoe, the winner of last week’s Southern 500 at Darlington, has already punched his ticket to the next round. Briscoe’s back-to-back victories in the event—his second consecutive Southern 500 win—serve as a stark reminder of how quickly fortunes can shift in NASCAR’s postseason. “At the end, that was way harder than it needed to be. Man, what an incredible Toyota. It was fun to finally be behind the wheel of it. So cool to win two Southern 500s in a row,” Briscoe said after the race. “This is my favorite race of the year. Just because every time we come here, the place is sold out, the atmosphere here is like nowhere else. A great way to start our Playoffs. That was a lot of fun. I think this is definitely what we’re capable of doing. We haven’t been able to go out and dominate a race like that. The potential has been there from Day One.”
For Berry, the immediate future is all about regrouping and refocusing. The Bristol Night Race looms large—a last-ditch opportunity to salvage his playoff dreams. It’s a tall order, to be sure, but if there’s one thing NASCAR history has taught us, it’s that anything can happen under the lights at Bristol. The Wood Brothers will need to bring their best car, their sharpest strategy, and a little bit of luck if they hope to keep their season alive.
As the playoff field tightens and the pressure mounts, every lap, every pit stop, and every decision takes on added significance. For Josh Berry, the margin for error has vanished. One more misstep, and his postseason journey will come to an abrupt end. But as the team regroups in the wake of another gut-wrenching setback, they’ll do so with the knowledge that they’ve already defied expectations—and with a determination to prove that they still belong among NASCAR’s elite.
With the Bristol Night Race on the horizon and the playoff cutline looming, all eyes will be on Berry and the No. 21 team. Can they pull off a miracle and keep their championship hopes alive? The answer will come soon enough, as NASCAR’s postseason drama rolls on.
