Kevin Harvick spills the beans “biggest reason” behind Josh Berry’s NASCAR success
Kevin Harvick has shared his feelings about Josh Berry’s Vegas win and the reason behind his success in the top division.
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Kevin Harvick and Josh Berry (Via IMAGO and @MQL_Racing/X)
Last Sunday’s Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway was an iconic event, owing to the impressive performance from Josh Berry, who secure Wood Brothers Racing their first win of the season. The No:21 Ford driver took advantage of the big name struggling at the track to secure the victory and proved he deserved a seat at the top-tier.
2014 Cup champion Kevin Harvick talked about the win and Josh Berry’s journey on his podcast recently. He named Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. as the biggest supporter of the racer. Junior discovered Berry from the late model racing scene, gave him a seat in the Xfinity Series and rest is JR Motorsports history.
There’s not a bigger Josh Berry supporter out there than Dale Jr. Josh has been a part of their family for a number of years and had some amazing opportunities with the late models and Xfinity cars.
Kevin Harvick said via Happy Hour podcast.
The veteran pointed out that the biggest reason behind the success of the racer is Dale Jr. and his sister Kelly Earnhardt. They put him in a position to succeed at JGR and he responded by winning races for them, eventually getting the part-time Cup call with HMS and later signing with SHR for his debut.
That’s the biggest reason he’s where he is because of Dale and Kelly [Earnhardt Miller] and the position that they were able to help Josh get into. Josh did his part by winning races.
Kevin Harvick added.
Kevin Harvick’s part in Josh Berry’s Cup debut
Just like Junior Harvick also played a significant part in the career of Berry. In 2023, the No:4 Ford driver decided to retire from the sport and was tasked to find the perfect replacement for him. He didn’t have to think much before circling Berry’s name.
He and his crew chief Rodney Childers then had talks with Dale Jr., as Berry was still racing with JRM, about signing him. It was a slightly complicated situation as a Chevy driver was being approached by a Ford team. But things went as they expected, and Berry signed with SHR for 2024.
Myself and Rodney [Childers] and everybody at Stewart-Haas left it up to us as to who the candidates should be that were presented to put in a car. I started talking to Dale about how to go about this. I wanted to make sure that he wouldn’t be mad if we went to talk to Josh because he was driving Chevrolet, he was driving for Dale.
Kevin Harvick said.
Unfortunately for him, 2024 was a year of chaos for Stewart Haas Racing with the team losing some of its biggest partners and having serious financial issues. This resulted in them ceasing operation at the end of the season, but it didn’t affect Berry much as he was able to secure the WBR seat.
Josh Berry earned the respect of NASCAR legends at Vegas
The victory at Las Vegas was a really special moment for the veteran racer, as he has been dreaming about the opportunity for many years. After the emotional win, he was scene getting out of the car and kissing its hood, showing his respect for the machinery.
The celebration was unlike other drivers who has won recently, as most of them will do a wild burnout. The No:21 even encouraged their driver to do a burnout, but he refused maybe because of the fact that he is one of the racers that work on their cars alongside the crew.
The whole NASCAR community shared their respect for this attitude of the veteran and the biggest compliments came from Richard Petty, who praised him for not showing up. HOF Mark Martin also praised the WBR driver, alongside many shows Berry’s earned the respect he deserved.
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