Josh Berry eliminated from playoffs with fiery early exit at Bristol

Josh Berry's nightmarish playoff run has come to an abrupt end at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Berry's 2025 playoffs began with a Lap 1 crash in the Southern 500, finishing last. The following week at WWT Raceway, he got spun out by Chase Elliott and crashed out of the race on Lap 35. 

Berry started 10th in Saturday night's elimination race, facing a must-win situation. But for the third consecutive week, disaster struck the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford in the first stage of the race, and he will leave with yet another last-place finish.

He was running seventh as chaos broke out in the early laps, with severe tire cording forcing all drivers to pit road under green-flag conditions. As balls of rubber began to line the outermost groove, it was also building up inside the wheel well of the No. 21 car. It began smoking, but quickly, flames erupted inside the right-front fender.

Blinded by smoke

Berry became blinded by smoke inside the car and tried to find his way to pit road, nearly causing an incident as he tried to get off the track. He made it to his box and the team quickly pulled him from the burning car. He was okay, but his race -- and playoff hopes -- were over. 

"Not very well," said Berry when asked if he could see inside the car. "Definitely started smoking a few laps before. We pitted and we tried to ride it out a couple laps, and it was getting pretty bad there. Man, just so disappointing. That was gonna be a lot of fun. That was right in our wheel house. We were moving forward. I think that's why we were trying to stick it out as long as we can, because that could have been our opportunity. Man, its been a tough couple weeks.

"Definitely not the way we wanted this first round to go. We felt like we executed well, just didn't have the finishes. This is gonna be a tough one to watch. That was gonna be a lot of fun."