Tanner Berryhill said on Twitter that his team is not entered for Saturday’s Xfinity race at Atlanta Motor Speedway after being collected in a crash during group qualifying last weekend at Daytona International Speedway and failing to make the season-opening race.
The 21-year-old driver, who has made 40 career Xfinity starts, sent a series of tweets explaining that his family-owned team has been in a “financial crunch for so long” that missing the Daytona race will force the team to be sidelined until sponsorship can be found.
Berryhill, who finished 22nd in the points last season, blamed the group qualifying format at Daytona for causing a six-car crash.
The incident started when Daniel Suarez tried to change lanes. Kyle Busch and Kelley Earnhardt Miller were both critical of the format.
If you haven't noticed, the #17 is not on the entry list for ATL. My team has been in such a financial crunch for so long.. 1/3
— Tanner Berryhill (@tannerberryhill) February 23, 2015
and missing the race at Daytona sent us over board. The new qualifying format killed any chance we had of racing this year.. 2/3
— Tanner Berryhill (@tannerberryhill) February 23, 2015
I plan to work hard to find sponsors, but until then I will not be racing unless an opportunity allows me to do so. Thanks for the support.
— Tanner Berryhill (@tannerberryhill) February 23, 2015
Camping World Truck Series driver Clay Greenfield stated that although he didn’t crash, the group qualifying format also played a key role in him missing the season-opening Truck race.
@dustinlong I didn't crash but group qualifying kept the 68 truck out of the race also 51 had trouble, didn't go & I had to qual by myself
— Clay Greenfield (@claygreenfield) February 24, 2015