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SHR officers on Wednesday launched Berry at Charlotte Motor Speedway as the brand new driver of its No. 4 Ford starting in 2024, changing future NASCAR Corridor of Fame driver Kevin Harvick, who’s retiring on the conclusion of the 2023 season.
Berry is not going to solely transfer right into a profitable group and workforce but additionally will retain Harvick’s gifted crew chief, Rodney Childers, because the workforce’s chief.
Harvick and Childers have mixed for 37 collection wins since their pairing in 2014, together with a Cup Sequence championship of their first season and a career-best 9 victories for Harvick within the 2020 season.
“I can’t think about a greater alternative for me – to get in a automotive that’s been as profitable and iconic because the No. 4,” Berry mentioned. “Kevin is a future NASCAR Corridor of Famer, and it’s going to be a problem attempting to return after somebody so profitable.
“However I do know I’m going to have an incredible group of individuals round me, led by Rodney Childers, to the place we will hit the bottom operating.”
SHR didn’t handle sponsorship for the No. 4 automotive in 2024 however a workforce spokesman mentioned “constructive conversations” have been ongoing with present SHR companions related to the No. 4 and nicely as with potential new companions.
Berry presently competes within the Xfinity Sequence for JR Motorsports and has 5 wins since starting with a part-time schedule in 2021. He superior to the Championship 4 in his first fulltime season in 2022.
The 32-year-old native of Hendersonville, Tenn., has already made 10 Cup collection begins – highlighted twice this season together with his being referred to as on to substitute for injured Hendrick Motorsports drivers Chase Elliott and most not too long ago Alex Bowman.
He earned a career-best runner-up end in April at Richmond, Va., whereas filling in for Elliott within the No. 9 Chevrolet.
“Josh Berry has confirmed himself within the Xfinity Sequence and this 12 months confirmed how rapidly he can adapt to the automobiles and the extent of competitors within the NASCAR Cup Sequence,” mentioned Greg Zipadelli, SHR’s chief competitors officer.
“He’ll be a rookie in our race automotive subsequent 12 months, however he drives like a veteran. He places within the work to make sure that he’s all the time prepared for the alternatives that come his method, and we’re very completely happy that his subsequent alternative is with Stewart-Haas Racing.”
A protracted highway to the highest
Berry’s journey to NASCAR’s premier collection has not been a straightforward one.
Whereas profitable six Legend Automobiles championships as a teen, Berry additionally competed in iRacing, and it was throughout on-line racing periods the place Berry caught the eye of his future proprietor and Corridor of Famer, Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Berry joined JRM’s Late Mannequin program in 2010 and shortly delivered wins and championships, together with the 2017 CARS Late Mannequin Inventory Tour title and the 2020 NASCAR Weekly Racing Sequence championship.
That success satisfied Earnhardt to offer Berry an opportunity within the Xfinity Sequence and he took full benefit of that as nicely – profitable in his thirteenth collection begin in April 2021 at Martinsville, Va., the identical observe on which he secured one in every of his premier Late Mannequin victories.
“I wouldn’t change something about how I acquired right here. It made me who I’m,” Berry mentioned. “All through my teenage years, it was a struggle simply to maintain racing, to get to the following race.
“The timing of Dale and I getting collectively, that was essential. If that doesn’t occur, I don’t know that I’d’ve ever raced a inventory automotive, or how rather more I’d’ve raced in any respect, simply because racing overextended us financially.
“Whenever you race that method, it’s laborious to set any sort of a long-term objective. However your targets simply change as you develop.”
It’s Berry’s success and expertise in Late Fashions which Harvick believes has offered him with a strong basis from which to launch a long-lasting Cup profession.
Kevin Harvick, Stewart-Haas Racing, Busch Gentle Ford Mustang
Photograph by: Rusty Jones / NKP / Motorsport Images
“Successful the CARS Late Mannequin Inventory Tour championship and the NASCAR Weekly Racing Sequence championship requires lots of talent and an equal quantity of dedication. Josh did each and gained lots of races alongside the way in which,” mentioned Harvick, who’s now part-owner of the CARS Tour.
“That have allowed him to be quick and profitable proper off the bat when he acquired to the Xfinity Sequence, and when he had his alternatives to race within the Cup Sequence earlier this 12 months, he once more confirmed velocity and a capability to race on the entrance.
“I’m very completely happy for Josh and proud to see him get this chance. He’s going to be a very good match with Rodney and the No. 4 workforce.”
Josh Berry, JR Motorsports, Bass Professional Retailers/TRACKER Boats Chevrolet Camaro
Photograph by: John Harrelson / NKP / Motorsport Images
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