Josh Berry Took a Nearly 30-G Hit During Atlanta’s Last Lap Crash

What’s Happening?

Josh Berry has revealed that he suffered a “nearly 30-G hit” during the wreck that caused the controversial last-lap caution in Sunday’s race in Atlanta. This wreck has been a topic of conversation this week as NASCAR threw a caution flag that interrupted what most expected to be another three-wide finish at Atlanta.

Tuesday, Berry told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio that a hit he took to his left side door registered a “nearly” 30-G’s. While this is not the hardest hit a driver can take, it is close to the alleged 32-G spike that Denny Hamlin suffered at Richmond last fall.

At the time, Hamlin’s then-crew chief, Chris Gabehart, revealed that this was the hardest recorded “G-Spike” of any Joe Gibbs Racing car in the NASCAR Next Gen era. Austin Dillon wrecked both the No. 11 and Joey Logano on his way to victory that evening.

This incident sparked two discussions: one about the legitimacy of the Playoffs and another about the importance of penalizing Austin Dillon for the safety concerns caused by this crash.

This is similar to the conversation surrounding NASCAR’s inconsistency in throwing last-lap cautions this season.

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NASCAR’s Caution Controversy

This debate began with the second Daytona Duel race, in which NASCAR threw the caution flag yards from the finish line and has raged on two races into the season.

During the Daytona 500, NASCAR did not throw the caution flag during a last-lap crash. This appeared to be the new precedent this past Saturday when officials were at the Xfinity Series race. However, NASCAR quickly backtracked on this decision, telling drivers during Sunday’s driver’s meeting that should a similar incident occur Sunday, they would throw the caution flag.

A similar incident occurred on Sunday; however, when the sports officials ended the race due to caution, some fans argued that throwing the caution flag for this incident, in which Berry took this hit, did not follow the precedent set by NASCAR. Furthermore, some felt that it ruined what looked to be another exciting finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

This, much like the Dillon controversy last fall, is sparking a debate over excitement vs safety. While the finish looked potentially exciting, news of Berry’s aggressive hit during this accident should justify NASCAR’s decision to call the race.

As the season moves forward, this debate will likely come back to the forefront; for now, Berry’s claims only further prove that NASCAR made the right call Sunday night.

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