| Josh Berry and the No. 21 PPG team needed a few more ounces of fuel to score a top-five finish in Sunday’s Brickyard 400 presented by PPG at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. But it wasn’t meant to be as Berry’s tank ran dry on the final lap of a second Overtime run to the finish, and he dropped to 22nd at the checkered flag.Throughout the afternoon at Indy, Berry and the PPG team had both speed and the right strategy. After starting 17th, Berry and the team settled into 16th place, but leapfrogged into the top five by staying on the track during the race’s first caution period, at Lap 18.Already looking to position themselves at the front of the pack later on, the team made a green-flag stop from fifth place with seven laps remaining in the first 50-lap Stage. That dropped them to 32nd at the end of the Stage, but after others pitted, they were back in the top five for the start of Stage Two.Once again, Berry and the PPG team pitted late in the Stage, taking four tires and fuel with seven laps to go.In the third and final Stage, the PPG team was the first to make a green flag stop, at Lap 116 of a scheduled 160. The strategy worked, and with eight of the 160 scheduled laps left to run they were back in the top five.Then came a brief rain shower that sent the race into Overtime and extended the race by eight laps.Berry held fifth place through the first Overtime try and although his fuel supply had dwindled, he and the team had little to lose and lots to gain by making a gamble that the fuel would be enough for another two-lap run to the finish. (A late pit stop would have put them at the back of the lead lap, where he eventually wound up.)But it wasn’t meant to be, so Berry and the Wood Brothers team now turn the focus to Iowa Speedway and next Sunday’s Iowa Corn 350. |
