Kevin Harvick’s Successor Demands Patience From Fans Amidst the Pursuit of ‘The Closer’s’ NASCAR Success

It is a tough ask for a rookie, Josh Berry, to get up to speed on delivering winning results as his predecessor did. Despite the troubles at Stewart Haas Racing, they always had the option of relying on the abled hands of Kevin Harvick, but not anymore. Going into the 2024 season, four-time Xfinity Series winner Berry is now trusted with the iconic #4 SHR car.

SHR fans have long been eyeing a win from one of their teams, but the onus now falls on Josh Berry to deliver the goods. There’s nothing too flashy or monumental if you look at the results for the No. 4 teams since the start of the season. However, there have been missed opportunities, which Berry feels he can overcome with time.

Josh Berry is still adjusting to his new role and the NextGen Car

The Hendersonville native is the leading driver from the SHR contingent, with the most laps led during his seven starts to the season. The start at Daytona and the follow-up at Atlanta did question the team’s call to rope in a rookie to replace Harvick’s ride. However, things took a turn for the better with the short-track races, and this is where Josh Berry is trying to build momentum for the rest of the season.

Well aware of his situation and pressure to perform consistently, the 33-year-old believes he will need time to gel into his new role and the race car. “It’s just going to take time, man. I told Rodney not too long ago, Kevin [Harvick] was 800-and-something starts of racing, and I’m in the teens. It’s going to take me a little bit of time to get acclimated and to eliminate some of the mistakes that I’ve made at the start of the season,” Berry said, according to the Racing America report.

One of the major concerns for the team was the lack of speed in the past two seasons, and fortunately, the SHR cars seem to have gotten better with each race. Acknowledging the potential of the racecars, Josh Berry went on to add, “The potential is there. This speed can be there, we just gotta start executing now. Figuring out how to be more consistent, and I think we’ll be fine.”

Short-track races are where Josh Berry has found the most joy, and going into Martinsville, he will be handed another opportunity to stake his claim as the lead driver for his company.

Excited for the Cook Out 400 event at Martinsville

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Out of his four Xfinity Series races, one of the wins for Josh Berry has come at Martinsville. Moreover, last season he managed to register two top 5 finishes for both the scheduled events in Xfinity. Although Berry has yet to make his first start at the venue in the Cup Series, he is looking at this weekend’s race as an opportunity to make a positive impact on his team.

“I’m definitely excited for it. I feel like it should be another good really opportunity for us to run well. It seems like our cars have been good at the short tracks. We’ve run a couple of them now to build some notes and work off of some things. I think it should be a good opportunity to go run and see how good we are,” said Josh Berry.

One thing is certain, SHR is certainly moving in a positive direction, given how well their cars have run recently. While they might be far off from returning to their glory days, a good string of results could lead to a breakthrough moment for the organization in upcoming races.

Read More: NASCAR Inflates Martinsville’s Cup Purse by $300,000 With a $6 Million Swell Over Xfinity Series