All eyes were on a much-beloved veteran at Florence Motor Speedway. After 17 long years, Dale Earnhardt Jr. wore his old racing colors – the bright red No. 8 Budweiser logo – to run the South Carolina 400. So the racetrack sold out tickets in no time, as fans’ attention was on the NASCAR Cup Series veteran. However, Junior’s presence may not have been so exciting for his racing rivals which included his former mentee, Josh Berry.

Berry was a Late Model racing sensation back in the 2010s, but we saw little of that spark this time. As a Cup Series rookie, he clinched 4 top-tens and 2 top-fives and finished 27th in points – 107 points behind Rookie of the Year Carson Hocevar. This backbencher effect impacted his Late Model venture as well.

Josh Berry stumbles on his return

Barely two years ago, Josh Berry was a force to reckon with in Late Models. He owns 21 victories in the CARS Late Model Stock Tour, with many memorable finishes. For instance, he led every lap from the pole in the 2019 ValleyStar Credit Union 300, beating veterans like Timothy Peters. But veteran Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s return partially threw a wrench in Berry’s plans. This year’s South Carolina 400 saw Berry running well at first, but Dale Jr.’s extraordinary pace rattled him. Dale Jr. swiftly progressed from 40th place to 2nd – and that prompted Berry to make a miscalculated decision.

Despite running in the top five in the first half of the race, Josh Berry mucked it up with a faulty tire adjustment in the second half. He candidly shared in a post-race interview: “The first half, honestly, I wanted to run hard and just see how long the car lasts. I definitely ran too hard…we held on really well.” This desperate bid to run well could be seen in his NASCAR races as well. During the August Daytona race, a slight nudge from Austin Cindric toppled his No. 4 Ford and it got into a tumbling wreck. Then NASCAR invalidated his Kansas run after incurring multiple flat tires due to a wreck. His tire frustrations, unfortunately, seemed to have carried over to the CARS tour.

Berry admitted his veteran was a class above him on the tracks despite the immense effort his team put into this race. “Dale and the 77 were really good – they were just a little bit better than us. Then we put tires on it and I couldn’t get to the back fast enough… We went from leading to last… I felt off for these guys… The tire thing, it’s always the revolving door of bad sets, good sets. Man, it’s tough when you come here and put that much effort into having it go like that.”

Despite the failed effort, Josh Berry also pointed out his limited runs. He used to race Late Models every weekend until 2021 when his NASCAR schedule kicked off with an Xfinity stint. So Berry continued, “This is only my second Late Model stock race this year. Really, we could maybe run two, three maybe at the most. It would be nice to come every now and then and find some guys I can race with. We had a lot of fun this weekend – honestly, the car was really strong… Our car held on really well, but just we put four tires on it.”

Yet ironically, Josh Berry was in Treyten Lapcevich‘s place two years ago.

When Berry soared to glory

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Treyten Lapcevich outsmarted Josh Berry this year. Yet the latter already owns a few prestigious Florence Motor Speedway trophies in his cabinet. The first time, he won in 2021 as part of the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series. Then in 2022, he won again at the 0.4-mile paved oval as part of the seventh annual icebreaker. He had qualified third behind pole-sitter Zack Miracle and runner-up Connor Hall. Unlike the 2024 churn of events, Berry displayed patience, conserving his tires while trying to keep the leaders in sight.

Eventually, his rivals encountered trouble, and Berry took advantage of that gracefully. He took the lead on Lap 79 and never gave it up, eventually coasting to the victory by more than seven seconds. While delivering the interview on Victory Lane, Berry recalled the progress he had made on the same track. “Last year in this race I fell too far back and lost track position. I just tried to keep better track position with cleaner air. These guys worked really hard this winter putting this car together; first race on it. I just want to thank them for everything they’ve done for me for the last 10 years now.”

Sadly, that progress seems to have taken a break in 2024. Let us see whether Josh Berry can again harness his Late Model skills in Florence the next time.