When it comes to racing on the intermediate, 1.5-mile ovals on NASCAR’s Cup Series circuit, Josh Berry and the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane team have been among the fastest this year. They won at Las Vegas, started second, led two laps and finished 17th at Homestead and started seventh and led 41 laps before spinning from the lead last week at Texas.
Now it’s on to another intermediate track, Kansas Speedway. While all those tracks are look-alikes for the most part, each has its own characteristics, and that means teams like the Wood Brothers have to adjust their cars to adapt to each track’s unique features.
Berry said that at Kansas, the key is to be good in every groove of the racing surface.
“I think it just really boils down to the Next Gen era of racing, and it’s so hard to follow each other,” he said. “If your car is really good on the top, that’s great, but if you can’t move down to get some clean air, you’re not going to be able to pass. So, it’s just important to be good in multiple lanes because that way you can navigate racing through the field. But even if you’re the leader, you need to be able to navigate and pass lap traffic and make good lap time. I think that’s why [Kansas Speedway] seems to promote such good racing, because it has multiple lanes and allows us options to have side-by-side battles.”
Practice for the AdventHealth 400 is set for Saturday at 3:30 p.m. Central Time (4:30 Eastern) to be followed by qualifying at 4:40 (5:40 Eastern). Amazon Prime will carry the TV coverage. Sunday’s 267-lap, 400.5-mile race is scheduled to get under way just after 2 p.m. (3 p.m. Eastern) with TV coverage on FS1. Stage breaks are planned for Laps 80 and 165.