Josh Berry gave Ryan Blaney a run for his money in the closing laps. Starting third and finishing runner-up, the Wood Brothers Racing driver hardly had a smooth ride. After holding a top-three spot in Stage 1, Berry was spun by Shane van Gisbergen on a Lap 82 restart in Stage 2, an incident that could have easily sent Berry’s strong outing down the drain.
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Instead, Berry and the No. 21 crew rolled up their sleeves and went back to work. As the laps ticked away, Berry found himself trading punches with the Penske duo, Blaney and Joey Logano, often clocking faster times than the leaders.
His fortunes swung when Cody Ware’s spin with 45 laps remaining bunched the field. While most contenders pitted for two or four tires, crew chief Myles Stanley kept Berry on track, handing him the lead and putting the outcome squarely on his shoulders.
On the restart, Blaney muscled his way to second and slipped past Berry with 39 to go, looking ready to run off into the sunset. Berry fought back, reeled him in to within a car length, but a bobble in Turn 3 all but slammed the door on his shot at victory.
“I was going to race him, but it’s definitely a tough situation. You have to take care of him, right? That’s how I try to race anyway. These restarts and stuff, I try to do the best I can and be smart, and it’s tough out there sometimes. I was going to race him hard but clean,” Berry said after posting an average running spot of 8.3.
The interesting bit is that the Penske and Wood Brothers machines, tied by technical alliance, were head and shoulders above the field, a sharp break from the Joe Gibbs Racing stranglehold on the first round of the playoffs.
Josh Berry and Wood Brothers Racing may no longer be championship eligible, but they needed a day like Sunday in New Hampshire. “This is definitely what we’re capable of …” https://t.co/Dv620xWI0n
— Kelly Crandall (@KellyCrandall) September 22, 2025
JGR drivers, who ruled the opening round, stumbled out of the gate in Round 2. While Blaney and Berry fought tooth and nail, yet kept it clean, Gibbs’ own teammates could not say the same.
Running 11th on Lap 110, Ty Gibbs held his ground against Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell until the faster No. 11 slipped under him, tagged his left rear, and sent the No. 54 into the Turn 1 wall to bring out a caution.
Hamlin voiced his anger, and Gibbs shot back with a pointed “Game on” before limping to the garage with a broken toe link that ended his day.
The clash showed the gulf between drivers with a championship in sight and teammates with little skin in the game, fueling doubts about whether Hamlin and Gibbs can keep pulling in the same direction. By contrast, Blaney and the #21 driver were not just duking it out for track position but for the win itself, and yet had nothing but respect toward each other.
