Why did Josh Berry go beyond Wood Brothers Racing to thank Team Penske for his Las Vegas win?

After Josh Berry secured his maiden NASCAR Cup victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, he credited his team, Wood Brothers Racing (WBR) but in addition, extended his gratitude to Team Penske as well. He highlighted how Team Penske helped him get up to speed and played a key role in his development.

Driving the #21 Ford Mustang for WBR, in what was only his fifth start for the team, Josh Berry overtook Daniel Suarez for the lead after a late-race restart and comfortably finished 1.359 seconds ahead at the checkered flag. This triumph marked WBR's 101st win and made Berry their fourth straight driver to bag their first win in the #21.

In a post-race interview with Frontstretch, Josh Berry reflected on the same, along with a special mention for Team Penske,

"It's just been incredible. They've been so good to me. It's just been a great relationship. Obviously thank everybody the Wood Brother's Racing, but Team Penske as well. They've welcomed me with open arms and tried to help me and accelerate this learning process as much as I can," he said.

WBR has a technical alliance with Penske through Ford, where they share car development, engineering support and key resourses like setup notes, simulation data and strategic insights.

This practice has historically benefitted WBR drivers as well. A recent example would be Team Penske's Ryan Blaney, who used to be a full time WBR driver and secured their 99th victory at Pocono Raceway in 2017, before moving to Team Penske's #12 car in 2018.

Blaney's time with WBR played a crucial role in his development, and the same continues for Josh Berry, who stands to benefit from the Penske-Wood Brothers alliance well into the future. In addition, he gets to lean on NASCAR champions like Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney for driver insights.

Berry, who'd previously won twice in the Las Vegas track as an Xfinity series driver, currently ranks 13th with 119 points after winning the Penzoil 400.

---

Josh Berry comments on learning from Penske drivers Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney and Austin Cindric

Before graduating from the NASCAR Xfinity series and entering the Cup series, Josh Berry appeared on Kevin Harvick's "Happy Hour" podcast and discussed his future with the WBR-Penske environment. He expressed his eagerness to learn from the Penske stable of drivers to realise his full potential behind the wheel.

Speaking on what he looks forward to the most, he said,

"Working alongside of them and being able to learn from Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney and Austin throughout that and that's only going to accelerate where I'm at as a driver. Because I feel like the potential's there with being able to focus in and corral that, become more consistent and I think those guys will have great insight on how to do that." (29:25 onwards)

In the season so far, Josh Berry won Stage 1 in Atlanta and secured a fourth-place finish in Phoenix. His victory in Las Vegas puts him at 13th place in the Cup Series standings.