WATCH: Dale Earnhardt Jr. apologizes to Josh Berry for getting into him at Homestead, admits he ‘cleaned him out’
Dale Earnhardt Jr. took full responsibility for the crash involving Josh Berry in Miami.
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Josh Berry and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Via IMAGO)
JR Motorsports driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. has a solid Xfinity outing at Homestead Miami that saw him secure his first top-5 finish since 2020. But during the event, he did have an incident to forget as he got into his driver, Josh Berry, and forced him to retire on the back to significant damage to the car.
Dale Jr. sent Kevin Harvick’s SHR replacement for 2024 to the wall on a restart on Lap 171 of the 200-lap. He quickly took the blame and apologized to his friend for the unfortunate incident that cost him the race. He posted a message apologizing on X, replying to Berry’s post on the incident
I had a million tire donuts, but that’s a legit damn wheel donut. My apologies for my lack of awareness of turn two today
During his post-race, he gave a candid explanation about the incident and admitted that he prompted it. He said that he cleaned Josh Berry out. Dale Jr. said that he got lost and wasn’t aware of the presence of the No:8 Chevy.
I cleaned him out. I didn’t know he got there. I got loose, but I thought I was clear all the way up. So when I got loose, I was like, I got plenty of room to catch this, chase the car up.Dale Jr. said, as reported by NBC Sports.
Dale Earnhardt blames miscommunication for the incident
The two times Daytona 500 winner pointed out that he didn’t know Berry was racing him on the outside as he misinterpreted what his spotter, Joey Meier, was informing him; if it wasn’t for that occurrence, the accident could’ve been avoided.
My spotter, Joey… is a great spotter. I misinterpreted the information he was giving me. My fault. He was telling me I was in the middle, three-wide, and (Berry) was on the outside.
He went on to explain that he thought Berry was charging down on him from the middle and, when he got lost, decided to move up the track to give his teammate the maximum space. But it was the disastrous call that ended in the No:8 driver’s race ending early.
I was hearing something different. I thought (Berry) was coming through the middle. When I got a little loose, I was like I’ll just come up and leave him all that room. I didn’t know he was out there. We hit really hard. I thought it flattened my tires. I know it killed his car.
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Justin P Joy
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