“I didn’t expect to be in this position with how things ended at SHR.” Josh Berry’s story is neither from the fast lane nor had an easy path, and his Pennzoil 400 win is just one step in the journey to success. Who would have thought a year ago when Stewart-Haas Racing announced it was shutting down operations that Berry, a driver left without a seat, would find redemption at Vegas?

But did you know a long time before this win, there were difficulties in getting Berry into a NASCAR car, with Dale Jr. and Kevin Harvick bailing him out.

Josh Berry’s love for Junior is no secret. “I wanted to make sure Dale Jr. wouldn’t be mad because I didn’t want to leave him high and dry,” said Josh Berry when joining Stewart Haas Racing. Earnhardt Jr’s blessing mattered to him as he’d given Berry late-model and Xfinity shots, building him from a shop guy into a racer.

He’d filled in there, and won Xfinity races with JR Motorsports, but it was Dale Jr. who first saw him. Berry’s grind for years and seeing him take the #21 Wood Brothers Ford to Victory Lane would fill anyone with a punch of pride and relief.  That Vegas win tightened their bond. “Me and Dale, we’re closer than ever now.” After the race, Junior jacked him up against the wall in excitement. No burnout, though—Berry told Fox Sports, “I didn’t want to tear up the car,” honoring Dale’s influence.

As we head into the Miami race weekend, Kevin Harvick revealed the NASCAR legends’ role in getting Berry the SHR gig. “Well, it was a conversation between Dale Jr. and myself as to how do we—we wanted to put him in the #4 car, right? And so myself and Rodney and everybody at Stewart-Haas kind of left it up to us as to who the candidates should be that were presented to put in a car. So I started talking to Dale about how to go about this, and I wanted to make sure that he wouldn’t be mad if we wouldn’t talk to Josh because he was driving Chevrolet. He was driving for Dale. So started talking to Dale about Josh’s scenario and trying to put him in the #4 car. Dale is—there’s not a bigger Josh Berry supporter out there. Josh has been a part of their family, you know, for a number of years and had some amazing opportunities with the late models and Xfinity cars.” Dale’s touch was everything.

He racked up five victories in the NASCAR Xfinity Series with JR Motorsports. His first Xfinity win came at Martinsville in April 2021, followed by triumphs at Charlotte (May 2022), Las Vegas (October 2022), Phoenix (March 2023), and Dover (April 2023). These wins were enough to prove Berry’s knack for delivering big results across both series, cementing his late-blooming rise.

“Josh did his part by winning races a lot, and this is a guy when he came to drive our late cars he worked on them every day and prepared those cars himself every day they went to the racetrack. I mean, he was the biggest reason in the shop that they were getting prepared like they were because he could do it all himself. So, you know, Josh has had a lot of support. We’re fortunate to be a part of his ride and transition into being a Cup Series winner. But in the end, his biggest supporter is Dale Earnhardt Jr., and that’s fun to be able to have that sounding block to lean on.”

Now, Berry’s start in NASCAR was nowhere easy. Starting out in the Xfinity shop, he worked his way up the garage and Junior was a constant presence by his side. As he explained, “So they offered me a job at JR Motorsports. This was as a mechanic in the Xfinity shop. I say mechanic loosely. I washed the cars after they raced. I did teardown on the cars. I did pit practice, so I had to clean all the wheels for the pit practice car. I worked at the Xfinity shop, kind of at the bottom, sweeping the floor at night, and working on the late-model car at night time. Eventually, that transitioned to where I could go work full-time for the late-model team.” Not only did Junior take a chance with him as a driver, he even let Berry stay with his stepfather and mother!

From there, it was only a matter of time before Berry’s talent was recognized by the rest of NASCAR. In 2023, he subbed for Chase Elliott in five races and Alex Bowman in three, stepping up when injuries hit. Team president Jeff Andrews still praises him, per NASCAR.com: “Josh is just a solid guy. We go back to a few years ago here when he filled in for us, and I can remember having a conversation with him when we needed him to drive this 9 car and just a solid guy, works hard. Obviously a great short-track background that spoke for itself. And Hendrick Motorsports, from our perspective, we couldn’t be more proud to see where Josh has ended up and win today. Very, very deserving. Just a good guy, a good race-car driver who works hard and has made his way up through the sport.”

With Dale as his backbone, Josh Berry’s just getting started. NASCAR’s better for it, and we’re eager to see how makes up for the lost potential during his turbulent times.

Berry reflects on Daniel Suarez’s tough fight

That battle with Daniel Suarez in the Pennzoil 400 was intense. Suarez made him earn every inch. It was a moment you can’t forget. Berry started 7th, hung tough through 267 laps, and faced a late showdown.

Suarez led with 15 laps left, but a caution flipped the script. On the lap-252 restart, Berry pounced, clearing Suarez and holding on. Suarez fought back hard, finishing 0.334 seconds behind. It was a -edge-of-seat action where those final laps were an absolute nail-biter.

Here Berry said, “Daniel definitely made it difficult on me there at the end. I feel like I was struggling a little bit on the short run speed, and I knew that was going to be key with the restart with 15 to go. I got a good restart, got through (Turns) 1 and 2 good and got to racing with him. It seemed like forever racing with him through (Turns) 3 and 4. I was able to get clear of him off of (Turn) 4 and tried to manage the last handful of laps there.” You can hear the relief, he knew Suarez wasn’t letting up.

Suarez was gutted, “I needed a longer run. We were really good on the long run, and I think that showed all race long. On the short run, we just didn’t have quite enough speed, and then after the restart, we were side-by-side for a couple corners, and he was able to get by me coming out of (Turn) 4. It just sucks to be that close.” Man, I felt for him—he was so close.

Now Josh Berry has his moment to enjoy and fans would hope he will live up to the expectations that Dale Earnhardt Jr has set for him. And may even think of using this momentum to pull a Christopher Bell in the next 2 races at least.