Josh Berry’s path to the NASCAR Cup Series was filled with failures and questions about whether he could reach the sport’s premier level.
Berry, who took over Stewart-Haas’ No. 4 seat previously occupied by NASCAR champion Kevin Harvick, spent a decade or so sweating it out at tight, tight tracks like nearby Florence and Dillon Speedway, improving his stock performance. I learned from everyone I could how to be successful. The pinnacle of car racing.
“I’m not going to lie, there were a lot of days I never thought I would make it to the top two series in NASCAR,” Berry, 33, said. Most of them. Now I’m in a cup race. ”
Berry and NASCAR’s greatest athletes will be at Darlington Raceway to pay their latest homage to the sport’s history during the 10th annual Throwback Weekend.
The Goodyear 400, the midway point of NASCAR’s 26-race regular season, will be held on Sunday. Darlington is the circuit’s oldest superspeedway, first hosting races in 1950, turning spring weekends into a celebration of the past.
This year’s theme is NASCAR’s Grassroots, with racers and teams celebrating the bullrings, dirt tracks and layouts where drivers, crew chiefs and pit staff first learned about racing.
“That’s what drives our sport,” Kyle Busch said Friday. “It’s clear that the young players have dreams of getting to the top. They want to get there one day and they’re coming from the grassroots level.”
Berry’s car features a paint scheme modeled after the success of Rodney Childers, a late model driver and crew chief in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Berry and Childers showed off the car during a visit to the South Carolina governor’s mansion last month, and Childers said he had to hold back tears when he realized his feelings about his past. Ta.
“That 1998 was probably one of the biggest turning points in my (driving) career,” Childers recalled.
Ron Barfield, a longtime racer and current owner of Dillon Motor Speedway in South Carolina, about 60 miles from Darlington, believes track experience is essential to success at any level. I believe that. He appreciates that young racers are spending time taking advantage of simulators and other modern tools, but he says that if they don’t cut their teeth on small courses, they’ll have to learn to compete under pressure. is difficult.
“There’s no substitute for going to the races,” he said.
Busch, a two-time NASCAR champion, agrees. His son Brexton, who turns 9 later this month, is learning how to run junior sprint cars, outlaw karts and bandoleros.
Bush, the eldest son, said he had a lot of fun watching his son compete at the sport’s youngest, coach-pitch-type level.
“It was fun to watch,” he said.
Berry’s Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Chase Briscoe will run the No. 14 car in honor of Briscoe’s father, Kevin, who drove it during a 20-year career that included more than 200 feature wins. The older Briscoe won the 1993 track title at Tri-State Speedway in Haubstadt, Ind., and five championships at Bloomington (Ind.) Speedway.
“Growing up, I probably took for granted how good he was,” Briscoe said. “When I went to the racetrack, I thought it was normal for my dad to win the race.”
Cole Custer, who won last year’s Xfinity Series, recalled that when he first got behind the wheel at age 5, all he wanted to do was race, no matter where he finished. It wasn’t until his teenage years that his focus and ambitions changed and he developed a desire for titles.
“When I was a kid, I never thought I’d be a NASCAR champion,” said Custer, 26. “Winning that title means a lot and hopefully I can continue this momentum. ” he said.
Berry, Harvick’s successor as No. 4 driver, is steadily learning the ropes as a full-time Cup Series driver. He finished 11th at Richmond on March 31st, Stewart-Haas’ best result to date.
“I knew it was going to be difficult,” he said. “This is the top level of NASCAR racing. But we’ve seen a lot of improvement. We’ve had a really fast car, we’ve qualified better, we’ve raced better, but now it’s just putting everything together.”
___
AP NASCAR: https://apnews.com/hub/nascar-racing
