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Josh Berry reveals he suffered ‘nearly a 30 G hit’ at Atlanta, reacts to ‘inconsistencies’ with cautions

Nick Profile Picby:Nick Geddes•02/25/25•

NickGeddesNews

Josh Berry
Jason Allen-Imagn Images

Josh Berry was directly involved in the multi-car wreck down the back straightaway that prompted NASCAR to throw the caution flag on the final lap of Sunday’s Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta.

Berry made contact with Denny Hamlin and Ross Chastain before hitting the outside wall and then coming down the racetrack only to take a big hit to his door from Ryan Preece. That hit, Berry said on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, registered nearly 30 Gs. Based on what he experienced inside his No. 21 Ford, Berry is glad NASCAR threw the caution, and hopes they continue to do so in similar situations moving forward.

“We kind of just squeezed together and I got pinched there,” Berry said Tuesday. “Bounced off Ross a little bit and then into the 11 [Hamlin]. And then back into Ross and that’s what got me crossed up. … There’s obviously been some inconsistencies over the course of this year already in multiple series. But I think we got to throw those cautions at the end of the race.

“I mean, I bounced off the outside wall, came across towards the inside, got hit in the left side door. The car registered nearly a 30 G hit… you got to err on the side safety in those situations.”

Josh Berry takes big hit in final lap wreck at Atlanta

Berry led a career-high 56 laps and finished 25th. While that’s disappointing for Berry, he’ll certainly be in agreement with what Elton Sawyer had to say Tuesday. The NASCAR Senior Vice President of Competition said that the decision to throw the caution flag at Atlanta was made to avoid having drivers “racing through a debris field” and will be the standard moving forward.

“So, as I talked to our Cup drivers on Sunday in the drivers meeting. Just reassured them that we’re not going to be racing through a debris field,” Sawyer said. “If you have a situation like we did Sunday night, the wreck occurred somewhere between sixth and seventh running positions there, so there’s a lot of cars behind them that if we don’t throw the caution, you’re incentivizing the competitors to drive through that.

“If you look back over the last week or so and nine superspeedway races that we’ve had if you count our Duels and ARCA race, the finishes — everyone’s on top of each other. So, the element of a last lap caution is there as we’ve seen. It’s on the sanctioning body, it’s on our side to make sure that we do our absolute best. It’s our goal to get to the start/finish line under green. But there is conditions and situations where we need to throw that. And we’re gonna err more on throwing it than not.”