NASCAR playoff rookie has Darlington debut WRECKED inside 15 seconds

Josh Berry waited a long time to make it to NASCAR’s Cup Series playoffs - it is fair to say he did not expect his debut to turn out quite like this.

The 34-year-old Wood Brothers Racing star clinched a postseason berth almost six months ago, courtesy of a famous victory at Las Vegas back in March. From that moment on, all roads would lead to Darlington on Sunday night.

READ MORE: NASCAR officials penalize multiple playoff stars at Darlington

Everything appeared to be going perfectly for the Hendersonville, Tennessee native on Saturday when he produced a terrific qualifying performance to line up third for Sunday night’s big race.

Berry’s big night at the Cook Out Southern 500 turned quickly into a disaster though, as he wrecked his No. 21 Ford inside less than 15 seconds of the very first lap. After getting loose in Turn 2, he tagged Tyler Reddick and slammed into the wall.

The damage was significant, and Berry would spend the next 119 laps in the garage having repairs.

After rejoining the race in the latter stages, Berry would eventually come home in 38th position. It was not the playoff baptism he had hoped for, though the point he claimed for fastest lap may yet prove valuable.

Josh Berry on Darlington wreck

He said afterwards: “We just took off there. Obviously, it’s the first corner, you’re just getting up to speed. The car bottomed out five or six times and just wrecked. It was definitely unexpected. We didn’t really fight that too bad in practice. I saw a replay of it when I was sitting in the car while they were fixing it from the 1, and you could tell that it bottomed out four or five times and you can’t save them when they’re like that. ... It’s just disappointing.”

Despite the miserable start to his playoff career, Berry is remaining optimistic and does not believe he is done just yet.

“It looked like a lot of people had a bad night, which we know how this goes. We just need to avoid a bad night. I obviously haven’t seen it yet, but I feel like we’re still within striking distance that if we just go have two good weeks, we’ll at least be in the mix once we get to Bristol.”

Berry stands 16th in the playoff standings as the postseason battle heads to Gateway this coming weekend. He is 19 points away from the cutline.

NASCAR HEADLINES: Driver 'screaming and praying' in terrifying moment as Briscoe locks in first playoff win

Related