Josh Berry and the No. 21 eero Mustang Dark Horse are set to start fourth in Sunday’s Shriners Children’s 500 at Phoenix Raceway. Berry earned that spot with a lap at 132.900 miles per hour around the one-mile oval on Saturday. This is his second top-five start in the past three races, the first coming two weeks ago at Atlanta where he started third. It also was his career-best Cup qualifying effort at Phoenix.
His qualifying time on Saturday was much better than the laps he turned in practice earlier in the day. He was 34th on the speed chart for practice with a best lap at 130.298 mph, which he posted on the second of the 71 laps he ran in the session.
“I felt pretty good in race trim,” Berry said. “We didn’t have the fire-off speed exactly like we wanted, but I was pretty happy with the car and how it drove. Obviously [crew chief] Miles [Stanley] and the guys did a really good job for qualifying, and the car drove really well in qualifying. To start up front is obviously a good start.”
Sunday’s 312-mile, 312-lap race is set to get the green flag just after 12:30 p.m. (3:30 p.m. Eastern Time) with Stage breaks at 60 and 185 laps. FOX Sports 1 will carry the TV coverage.