Josh Berry was relieved that the scary crash at Daytona last week ended with him walking away and able to race in the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway on Sunday night.
“I was thankful more than anything,” Berry said Saturday. “I was OK. I got out of the race car on my own. I was home with my family. The race car did its job.”
Berry’s ability to race again seemed uncertain after he flipped over in a crash with just two laps left, landing on his roof and hitting a wall after contact with Austin Cindric.
“It’s not ideal, by no means, to have a car flip over like that,” said Berry, who drives the No. 4 Ford for Stewart-Haas Racing. “I’m here racing next week. I think it says a lot about the Next Gen (car) and the job NASCAR’s done.”
Berry mentioned he had a couple of “very small” bruises from the seat belts, “but nothing like I expected.”
He hasn’t changed his seatbelt or head restraint setup this week because it performed well under the crash. Berry will start 15th in Sunday night’s race.
