Team Penske is suddenly on a heater, winning four of the past six races during a portion of the NASCAR Cup Series schedule filled with tracks that are in their wheelhouse. Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano have each won two apiece during that stretch, the former finding victory lane for the second straight year at New Hampshire Motor Speedway this past Sunday.
However, it's one of the team's "other" drivers who is using this opportunity to turn his season around. Josh Berry in the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing machine (which everybody knows is really a fourth Penske car, in addition to Austin Cindric in the No. 2) has racked up four consecutive top eight finishes, and in Loudon, he recorded a season-best P3.
Berry, of course, is not returning to the No. 21 next year, as it's already been announced that Jesse Love will replace him. And one day after leading a career-high 73 laps, the ride he'd reportedly been a candidate for chose Austin Hill over him.
Richard Childress Racing is the latest Cup team to commit to underperformance, and it comes at Josh Berry's expense
Berry isn't exactly a world beater at the Cup level. He's good on short tracks and can occasionally capitalize when Penske has speed on intermediates, which they haven't since early last year. There's a reason why, even after his recent stretch, he's still 29th in the point standings.
He'd still have been a far more interesting choice for Richard Childress Racing's No. 33 ride than Hill.
RCR's situation is about the most unenviable one possible after Kyle Busch suddenly passed away from sepsis in May. He was supposed to be driving the No. 8 car for the rest of this season and again next year. The team had to bring in Hill as a short-term sub (only because Love is leaving the team), which turned into a full-season replacement, which itself was a disappointing decision.
Average finish may be a flawed barometer of driver performance for its omission of context, but the fact of the matter is that Hill's mark of 28.2 is worse than every other full-time Cup driver besides Cody Ware. Everybody has known for years that he belongs in the O'Reilly Series and no higher. Even he himself knows it.
So what does Childress do? Let's bring him back again next year!
It's a continuation of what has become one of the most frustrating trends in the Cup Series. Corey Heim is already capable of winning Cup Series races, but 23XI Racing had to waste two years on Riley Herbst instead.
Layne Riggs continues to rack up Truck Series wins left and right, but apparently Front Row Motorsports would rather see another year of Noah Gragson. When Kaulig Racing announces Ty Dillon is back for a third year in the No. 10 car, it'll put the icing on the cake on the most disappointing silly season in recent memory.
As for Berry, it's probably back to O'Reilly, which is honestly where his talent level belongs. But right now, he's at least racing with some inspired motivation, and as a fan, you'd like to be able to see that pay off.
Unfortunately, in today's wonderful world of charters and pay drivers, it doesn't.
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