By Matthew Thomerson/TheFourthTurn.com

DARLINGTON, SC – Josh Berry leaves Darlington Raceway with a seventh-place finish, and most importantly, another top-10 finish for Wood Brothers Racing to add to his unprecedented streak.

Since the Brickyard 400 in July, Berry and his Wood Brothers Racing No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford team have been on a different level of consistency, compiling strong runs at many different tracks. This has also given Berry a boost in the points, leaving Darlington 25th in the standings after being outside the top-30 before the streak began.

“It was a lot of fun,” Berry said. “There were a couple runs where I thought we were super, super good. I just struggled a little bit firing off, but the trade off of that was we were kind of always moving forward throughout the runs and then just how the race played out at the end.”

For Berry, this streak of good results couldn’t come at a better time, as back in June, it was announced the 35-year-old would no longer pilot the famed Wood Brothers machine for 2027, being replaced by reigning NASCAR O’Reilly Series champion Jesse Love. Now that he is actively searching for a ride for next season and beyond, putting up these consistent results can only prove he belongs in the premier Cup Series. 

“Cars have been a lot better these last few months,” Berry said. “And it showed we come here the first race of The Chase, I should’ve been the first non-chase car, and probably wasn’t even close really most of the night for how we ran so just proud of the guys, just dug in hard, and obviously excited to get another top-10 in a row and keep the streak going, but I felt like there was more out there tonight.”

There’s probably something to make of that as well, as for much of the night Berry was indeed the strongest non-Chase car, competing inside the top-10 along with the other Team Penske Fords. It appeared at some points the No. 21 car could have a chance at getting inside the top-three to challenge for the lead, but it was the Toyotas that once again prevailed. 

“We struggled a little bit firing off,” Berry siad. “I think the trade off for that was some long run pace. There were a couple runs where I was super happy with the car and a couple runs where I would just kind of ask it for more, but we’re running fifth so it’s just a great job by the guys.”

Still, the finish continues to mark historic feats in the history of Wood Brothers Racing. With his top-10 Sunday, Berry became the first driver since David Pearson in 1976, to get six or more consecutive top-10s for the organization. Berry also set his own personal best streak in the NASCAR Cup Series as well, in only his third full-time season. 

“It’s obviously a really cool accomplishment,” Berry said. “Something I’ve been proud of with this run that we’ve been on and it shows the job the guys have done digging in here towards the end…they certainly have proven they did not give up on me and they kept pushing and I got to give Miles (Stanley, crew chief) and David, all the guys they do this week in and week out a lot of credit for what they’ve done, they’ve just given me really good cars and we’ve made the most of it and that’s really all you can ask for.”

For Berry, this is also a confidence boost, as getting a consistent stretch of good finishes helps heighten the morale and temperament of even the most successful teams in the garage.

“Yeah, I mean certainly just a totally different racing when you’re up front like that,” Berry said. “We knew early in the season if we could just break through and just stack together some good runs and get out of being buried in the points and all the things that happened early on that we could show what we’re capable of.” 

It seems almost unconventional that the streak started at a track Berry had started no better than 17th and finished no better than 22nd. What makes the streak even more impressive is that they have come at many different tracks and configurations. Darlington is its own beast, but the results have also been highlighted at several short ovals, a big two-mile oval and a superspeedway. Could Berry have imagined this type of run just several months ago when the straits were the most dire?

“I mean, yes and no,” Berry said. “I mean I feel like the potential is there I mean I know what we’ve done and we’ve obviously won races last year we run in the top five and top-10, this early on it just seemed like nothing would go our way and we weren’t fast enough either but that’s the biggest thing that changed here these last two months, you know just happier with the car and we’re executing better and just able to stay out of trouble because we’re up front and that’s just what we want to keep trying to do.”

The NASCAR Cup Series will head to World Wide Technology Raceway on Sunday, Sept. 13, for the Enjoy Illinois 300. Live coverage will broadcast on the USA Network at 3 p.m. ET.

Photo Credit: Hunter Thomas/TheFourthTurn.com