Tony Stewart’s Star Driver Drops an Optimistic Verdict on Claiming Rookie of the Year Award

Having competed in 7 races of his first full-time Cup season, Josh Berry is beginning to get comfortable with Cup tracks. He stumbled initially, finishing 20th or worse until Phoenix. Yet Bristol’s tire wear race marked an uptick of his fortunes, as he handled the short-track intricacies with ease. 

Eventually, Tony Stewart’s driver scored his season-best 11th-place finish at Richmond. This achievement shot up his points as a rookie driver, leading Carson Hocevar by 9 markers. After displaying high speed on two short tracks, Berry is going into Martinsville with high hopes.

Josh Berry sees good ‘potential’ in Martinsville

Although Stewart-Haas Racing is fielding Josh Berry at a Martinsville Cup race for the first time, the rookie is familiar with the track. In his debut Xfinity start in 2021, Berry snagged a win there. Also in his overall six Xfinity starts there, he has bagged three top-fives and an average finish of 12.8.

Yet the Martinsville experience is not the only thing glittering on his resume. The 33-year-old driver has a long history in short-track racing. Berry amassed 95 wins in 262 starts as part of the JR Motorsports Late Model program. Not sure about you, but that part is bound to make jaws drop.

Now after getting a tangible boost in the Rookie of the Year standings, Berry is pumped. Talking to Fox 8 News recently, he said: “I mean, it definitely was a goal of ours for sure. We wanna get as many points as we can and give ourselves the best opportunity to win that award. We felt like it, the hint was there, what we had on Sunday night, Bristol”.

He was overall optimistic about a run in Martinsville, crediting his SHR crew chief as well. “The potential’s there to keep getting better and running well. We’re all trying to work together, get better. I really enjoyed working with Rodney…Rodney’s been just a great asset for me…So yeah, I feel good about everything we’re doing. It’s gonna take a little time to get where we wanna be. The potential’s there, we ran well already, we had good finishes.”

Aside from being positive about the Rookie of the Year award, Berry also seems optimistic for the Martinville race as he revealed his mantra for the short track. 

Berry assigns importance to patience on the track

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Josh Berry’s #4 Ford Mustang Dark Horse will wear Mobil 1’s stunning gold-black shades this weekend. Guess the backing of such a huge sponsor will only grow his chances for a win as he already had a second-place car at Richmond. Although the driver faced a bit of disappointment this past weekend finishing 11th, he is not impatient right now. Quite the opposite actually. The SHR driver is looking to tread cautiously.

He said, “There are so many situations where you can get into trouble early in the race and just having the patience to keep the car clean and be smart because those races are just so long. This weekend will be the longest race I have run there by far, so having the patience and discipline to be smart early will help me and the No 4 teamwork our way through the race and hopefully be there at the end.”

Clearly, Josh Berry is doing his homework to perform well in Martinsville. Hopefully, his Richmond fortune will echo this weekend or be better.

Read More: Daniel Suarez Warns Tony Stewart’s Rookie After Getting Spun at Richmond: “There Won’t Be Any Conversation”