Wood Brothers Racing driver Josh Berry secured his first Cup Series victory at Las Vegas on Sunday. After most race weekends, the NASCAR community is filled with criticisms and hate against the winner or the sport itself. But it hasn’t been heavily so this time around. Former racer Kenny Wallace made a note of the same on his YouTube channel.
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He said, “What happens when someone like that wins is that NASCAR becomes more popular. You’re gonna have some people that are still going, ‘I don’t like NASCAR!’ Cause, ‘My driver wrecked out’, is what they really mean … So, you’re gonna see a lot of good this week from all the fans because somebody new has won.”
“Coffee with Kenny”@LVMotorSpeedway was a great race.
And this is WHY pic.twitter.com/2ILvy48GQZ— Kenny Wallace (@Kenny_Wallace) March 17, 2025
Berry reached victory lane with a lead of 1.358 seconds over Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suarez. The achievement was not “shocking” by any means.
The driver has been poised for a victory since the beginning of the season. He nearly finished in the top-5 at Atlanta before an untimely wreck foiled his hopes. He finished fourth at the Phoenix Raceway.
And now, he has a win in the bag. The man showed up for Wood Brothers Racing out of nowhere and has already proven his worth to the team owners.
With a playoff spot in his hands, he can now relaxedly head to tracks like Richmond and Martinsville, where he usually performs well. That’s to say, Las Vegas might just be the beginning of a spectacular season for him.
The X post that Dale Jr. put out in 2022 about Josh Berry
Dale Earnhardt Jr. was a key figure in Berry’s journey to the top. Berry drove for JR Motorsports full-time in 2022 and 2023. During this time, he also got the chance to race as a substitute driver for Chase Elliott in the Cup Series. Dale Jr. helped him through these challenges a lot and has continually been a well-wisher.
Wallace pointed this out by bringing up an X post that Dale Jr. published in 2022. It went, “Josh Berry is a cup champion waiting for a cup owner who wants to be a cup champion owner.” Such high words of praise would any upcoming driver and Berry was no exception.
Josh Berry is a cup champion waiting for a cup owner who wants to be a cup champion owner.
— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) December 3, 2022
He said in an interview last year, “He gave me a life-changing opportunity to move to North Carolina and drive his late models. To go through that and then work together and race with him as much as I did, it means a lot to have his support. Obviously, he’s done a lot for me, but he’s been a great friend for me.”
Following his maiden win, Dale Jr. was one of the happiest people around him. This year or in the future, his prophecy that Berry would become a Cup Series champion is bound to be fulfilled.
