Berry, who competes fulltime in the NASCAR Xfinity Series for JR Motorsports, was tapped as the last-minute substitute for Elliott at Las Vegas, when Elliott suffered a broken left leg in a snowboarding accident prior to the race weekend.
While Berry, 32, had made two previous Cup starts in his career, none had come with the Next Gen car, which debuted in 2022. Trying to keep pace and dealing with a throttle issue, Berry ended up 29th and two laps down.
