Josh Berry grateful to walk away from frightening Daytona crash, race a week later at Darlington

DARLINGTON, S.C. (AP) — Josh Berry was grateful the frightening crash at Daytona last week ended with him walking off and racing in the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway on Sunday night.

“I was thankful more than anything,” Berry said Saturday. “I was OK. Got out of the race car on my own. I was home with my family. The race car did its job.”

That looked in doubt as Berry flipped in crash with just two laps remaining that left him skidding along on its roof and slamming into a wall after making 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 said he had a couple of “very small” bruises from the seat belts, “but nothing like I expected.”

The racer hasn’t changed his seatbelt or head restraint set up this week because it held up under pressure.

Berry will start 15th in Sunday night’s race.

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