Kevin Harvick reacts to 'scary deal' for Josh Berry after No. 21 ignites, fills with smoke

Several cars caught on fire during this past Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series Bristol Night Race. Josh Berry was the first driver to experience an issue with his right front, as his No. 21 Ford started smoking on Lap 76.

Cars were catching on fire throughout the race due to excessive tire rubber buildup. Unfortunately for Berry, the issue eliminated him from the playoffs. Kevin Harvick reacted to the scary situation on pit road for Berry, who had to be physically removed from his smoke-filled car.

“Well, there’s something that hasn’t changed since I quite driving, the Fords still catch on fire. I think with all the rubber and everything with their exhaust pipes and everything they have going on, it sure seems like the Fords definitely catch on fire a lot easier than the other two manufacturers with whatever they have. But this is a scary deal right here. Josh rode this thing out for a while,” Harvick said on Tuesday’s Happy Hour podcast. “You can see he can’t see the pit stall and being in that position before, when it starts burning all the carbon fiber and the foam and everything that is right there at the exhaust pipes, it is nasty smoke and it’s very hard to breathe. You can’t see because the inside of the car fills up [with smoke].

“You hope as you keep running that it’s going to go out, but every pit stop I watched, the right front was on fire with just about every car. It seemed like the Fords were the ones that caught on fire more.”

Josh Berry’s playoffs are over

Berry, in his first season driving the No. 21 Ford for Wood Brothers Racing, had a promising start to the 2025 season. He finished fourth at Phoenix Raceway in March and won the following week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Since then, not that much has gone right for Berry and the No. 21 team. Nothing went to plan in the Round of 16 of the playoffs. Berry finished last in each Round of 16 race, bowing out of the postseason. Berry wrecked on Lap 1 of the playoff opener at Darlington Raceway and got spun by Chase Elliott on Lap 36 at Gateway. Then came the car fire at Bristol.

Berry was excited about the idea of getting to compete in a tire wear race at Bristol. His race was over before the end of Stage 1.

“Man, it’s been a tough couple of weeks, but it hasn’t been because of performance. These guys have been doing a good job,” Berry said. “… Definitely not the way we wanted our first round to go. We felt like we executed well and ran well, just haven’t had the finishes. This is going to be a tough one to watch. That was going to be a lot of fun.”