New Hampshire Motor Speedway has Josh Berry feeling at home. The Wood Brothers Racing driver qualified second for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at the 1.058-mile oval.
Berry qualified 0.015 seconds behind pole winner Tyler Reddick, who posted a 29.054-second lap at 131.094 mph. The result continued his strong record at the short track. He has finished second and third in his two previous Cup starts at New Hampshire.
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Following the qualifying session on Saturday, Berry revealed why New Hampshire is his happy place.
“I got my first pole in the O’Reilly Series here and have had good finishes in the Cup car. It’s just somewhere I feel comfortable for whatever reason, and I’ve had good cars. That’s the most important thing,” he said.
“Statistically, this has been a very good track for me, so hopefully we can keep it rolling. I mean, it’s hard to keep up an average like we’ve had.”
Berry also won his first Xfinity Series pole at New Hampshire in 2022. He also explained how the No. 21 team had to adjust to a different tire this year. The cars and rules have changed, but have not taken away his confidence at New Hampshire.
“Just remind him of that” – Josh Berry explains his conversation with Tyler Reddick
Josh Berry enters Sunday’s Dollar Tree 301 with three straight top-10 finishes. He finished seventh at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, fourth at Iowa Speedway and eighth at Richmond Raceway last weekend. The 35-year-old is 30th in the 2026 Cup Series standings after 24 races. He has one top-five and five top-10 finishes this season.
Berry spoke with Tyler Reddick, who is fourth in the points standings, after the qualifying session and explained what they discussed.
“I’ll keep it to myself, but obviously this is a big opportunity for us tomorrow. He’s got a lot to race for the rest of the year and I’ve got a lot to race for each and every week, so just remind him of that. Nothing crazy,” he said.
“This is a really big opportunity for us tomorrow. I think it’s a great track for us. We’ve had great cars here. We just need to capitalize.”
Reddick struggled in practice, ranking 31st in that session before his team made adjustments. Meanwhile, William Byron, Denny Hamlin and Shane van Gisbergen rounded out the top-5 starting positions.
Edited by Palak Gupta
