Hendrick Motorsports Calls On Josh Berry…Again
For the second time this season, Hendrick Motorsports has had to go to Josh Berry to fill-in for one of its injured NASCAR Cup Series drivers.
NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Josh Berry is back in a Cup Series car, this time subbing for the injured Alex Bowman. Bowman suffered a fractured vertebra in a sprint car crash in Iowa last week and is expected to be out for at least three weeks. Previously, the 32-year-old Berry filled in for Chase Elliott for five races after he was injured in a snowboarding accident in March.
While there are differences between the No. 9 car and the No. 48, Berry doesn’t feel like he’ll be starting from scratch as he adjusts to a new team.
“No, I definitely feel like I’m in a lot better place going into this - having some experience in the Next Gen and having a relationship with everybody at Hendrick Motorsports from the opportunity with the No. 9.
“The way I look at it is – ultimately, this is Alex’s race team and my job in this situation is to just try and keep these guys going, prepared, happy and just ready to rock n’ roll whenever Alex gets back. I think that was the mentality we took with the No. 9 and obviously they came back and hit the ground running. That to me, I think that shows a little bit of me in that moment of keeping the morale and everything up high. Obviously these guys are off to a great start of the season and they are going to be championship contenders throughout the year. My job is not come in here and win every race. My job is to adapt and do the best I can and just keep everything pulling in the right direction. I feel like we were able to do that with the No. 9. Had some good results along the way and hopefully we can do that again in the No. 48.”
Berry knew he had big shoes to fill when he drove Elliott’s car. That doesn’t change as he fills in for Bowman, who’s team is off to a great start this season, leading the Cup Series in average finishing position going into the race at Dover Motor Speedway. For crew chief Blake Harris, having Berry behind the wheel instead of Bowman, is just something else that the team has to react to.
“I think this year so far, we’ve done a god job of just reacting with whatever has been thrown at us. This will just be another thing that we look back on and we’ll react accordingly. We’ve got full support of Alex. We want him to get well. As soon as he’s healthy and ready to come back, we’ll plug him back in and keep digging.
“From the standpoint of all those things and the momentum that we’ve had, I don’t look at that as being any different than what we’ve had. We show up every week with the plan to win races. We’re going to have to win races to get in the Playoffs. If we were leading points, we’re planning on winning races. So when he gets back, we’ll have to win races and we’ll get ourselves in a good position to make a run at the title. I don’t see that we look at it as anything different than just another bump in the road here that we’ve got to get across. We’ll go do the best that we can here for Josh, the No. 48 team and Hendrick Motorsports the next few weeks, and when he’s back and ready, we’ll be ready too.”
Berry’s performances subbing for Elliott included a runner-up finish at Richmond Raceway and have not gone unnoticed by rival team owners in the garage area. Word has it that Berry’s under consideration to take over the No. 4 car at Stewart-Haas Racing when Kevin Harvick retires at the end of this season. Now that he has another opportunity to showcase his talents in the Cup Series, have Berry’s goals or expectations changed?
“I think it’s hard to have too high of expectations when you step in this, right. Cup racing is hard. These guys are great; they’re the best of the best in the world racing here at these tracks. I don’t think it’s really fair for me to come in and have really high expectations. I think my expectations are of myself, which is to give the best effort I can each and every week to be prepared to drive the race car and do the best job I can in the race car to limit my mistakes and be there at the end of the race.
“It reminds me a lot of my opportunity in 2021 with no practice and qualifying. We kind of wouldn’t even worry about the first stage, really. We would just adapt to the car and try to use the second-half of the race to use strategy or whatever we could to get upfront and get the result that we wanted. I think it’s a similar aspect – learning this new car and a new team. These guys are great. That’s what I learned the first time around. These guys are amazing to work with and they’re super, super smart, so I think we can hold our own.”
Forced, once again, to split time between his primary job driving the No. 8 car for Jr. Motorsports in the Xfinity Series and now Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 48 in the Cup Series, Berry is trying to be as present as he can be for both teams going forward.
“Yeah, you know obviously in the first go around a couple years back, it was COVID-related and kind of last second, so it was really little to no preparation. I remember back on these opportunities; I would say I was notified maybe a day before we left. No time to really prepare for much. Working through the last month – yeah, I mean it’s been a lot to manage. Obviously my primary focus is running for the Xfinity Series championship with my No. 8 team, but I tried to be present as much as I could with everything at Hendrick Motorsports and not leave anything on the table that I felt like I could have done to be better prepared and I think we did that.
“Really, you can only do so much in a week. It was definitely a challenge trying to manage all of that, but it’s been really important to me to be present with those guys, but also stay really present and involved with the No. 8 team and make sure those guys don’t feel like we’re leaving anything on the table there either.”
While Berry hates the circumstances that led him to take over for two injured friends, he remains ready, willing and able to fill in when needed.