| The last time Josh Berry and the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing team took on Talladega Superspeedway back in April, they had the speed to contend for the win — even after a dose of early hiccup. In the opening laps of that race, Berry’s Mustang struck a bird while running at full speed, but the team quickly regrouped and stayed in the mix. From there, Berry methodically worked his way to the front, leading five different times for a total of 15 laps. A late-race speeding penalty on pit road derailed the team’s shot at victory, leaving Berry with a 28th-place finish despite having one of the strongest cars in the field. Now, as Berry and the No. 21 eero Ford Mustang Dark Horse return to the 2.66-mile Alabama superspeedway for Sunday’s YellaWood 500, the team’s focus is on execution — and putting together a complete, mistake-free day. “Our team has been really strong on the superspeedways this year,” Berry said. “We were in a good spot in the spring before that late-race speeding penalty, so hopefully we can avoid the chaos, execute and come away with a great result in the eero Ford Mustang.” Per NASCAR rules for drafting tracks such as Talladega, there will be no practice session this weekend. Qualifying is scheduled for Saturday at 1:30 p.m. ET on truTV, while Sunday’s 188-lap, 500.08-mile race is set to go green shortly after 2 p.m. ET on NBC. Stage breaks are planned for Laps 60 and 120. |
