Q&A with JOSH BERRY

BY JARED TURNER

In his first season as a full-time NASCAR Xfinity Series driver, Josh Berry dazzled his way to three wins, a Championship 4 appearance and a fourth-place finish in the final 2022 standings.

Based on those impressive results, one might assume the JR Motorsports driver was fairly satis fied, right? Fat chance.

While Berry is thankful to have enjoyed such a strong 2022 season and have an opportunity to compete full time in the Xfinity Series after spending a decade as a mostly Late Model driver, he’s far from content as it pertains to what he hopes to accomplish in his racing career.

Not only does the native of Hendersonville, Tennessee, want to win a championship in the Xfinity Series, he also harbors dreams of a suc cessful career in the NASCAR Cup Series – despite being 32 years old and well above the typical age of a Cup Series rookie.

In a wide-ranging exclusive interview with NAS CAR Pole Position Magazine in early January, Berry opened up about his aspirations for the future, rem inisced about how he came to know his famous boss and team owner – Dale Earnhardt Jr. – and reflected on his days as a Late Model racer and some of the trouble he got himself into.

YOU SPENT OVER A DECADE IN LATE MODELS BEFORE GETTING AN OPPORTUNITY TO MOVE UP. HOW DID YOU STAY PATIENT?

In the beginning part of my experience in a Late Model car, I think that I had some pretty high aspirations of hopefully being able to make it to the Xfinity Series. I got a couple of starts here or there, but nothing ever materialized. We weren’t able to put all the pieces together to in my eyes give me a legitimate shot. I was given opportunities – a race here, a race there – but it was hard to adapt and make something happen in that quick of time.

So I kind of slowly transitioned more into feeling like I was just going to be a career short-track racer. I was OK with that, and I kind of relished that opportunity. I tried to accomplish and get as much out of that as I could while I was racing. Then it kind of came full circle again, getting another opportunity back in the Xfinity Series. It requires a lot of patience, but I was having an amazing time racing what I was racing, and we were experiencing a lot of success and won a lot of huge short-track races. So when I think back on that, I don’t find it frustrating or anything like that at all. It just was what the timing was meant to be for me.

We both share a passion and a hobby for online racing. It really wasn’t even iRacing back then. iRacing was in the infant stages, I guess, but we all transitioned to iRacing, and Dale and I struck up a friendship and got to know each other a little bit, and we talked and he kind of asked what I did and what I raced and all that. It seems like a blur because it was so long ago, but ultimately that ended up turning into our conversations.

The (JR Motorsports) Late Model program at that time basically needed a driver and was kind of at an interesting point or crossroads there, and they were kind of looking for somebody else to stick in there and see how it was going to go. I got the opportunity to go test at Motor Mile Speedway in Virginia with those guys, and the test went well and they let me race a couple of times, and kind of the rest was history, I guess.

WERE YOU A BANK TELLER AT SOME POINT?

Yeah, I actually got an opportunity to work at a bank for a little while when I was still in high school, and when I graduated, I stayed working there for a little bit. I probably worked there like a year, but I did do it. That’s all true. Looking at my life, that was a pretty brief stint there. When I moved to North Carolina and began full-time racing, I guess you could say, and I went to work at JR Motorsports, I left that job to move here, which was a pretty easy decision.

BEING A BANK TELLER IS ABOUT AS FAR FROM BEING A RACE CAR DRIVER AS IT GETS, RIGHT?

It’s a lot different, but it was fun. I think back on that, and I learned a lot in that year or so about just life and banking and money, so it was a good experience.

WERE YOU SURPRISED AT ALL BY LAST YEAR’S SUCCESS?

I don’t think so. After my part-time (Xfinity Series) opportunity in 2021 and even kind of being in a substitute role a handful of times, I felt like I was positioned to have a good year. You just don’t know how good of a year that’ll be, right? It’s your first full-time season, and I think we checked a lot of boxes of things that we want to do. Winning three times and transferring into the Championship 4 checked a lot of boxes for us. Obviously, we wanted to win and we wanted to compete for a championship. Ultimately, we didn’t win the championship, but we feel like there’s a lot of room for improvement for me.

HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOU TO GET OVER THE DISAPPOINTMENT OF NOT WINNING THE CHAMPIONSHIP?

I don’t know that I’ve really completely gotten over it. Really, all you can expect in that moment is your best effort, and we really didn’t have that. I think, really, going into that race, that’s all I was hoping for. I knew if we could put together our best race, we’d be in contention. But we just kind of struggled from the get-go. Just didn’t really have a good practice, didn’t have a good qualifying or start of the race. We made progress through the field and got up there, but we just weren’t where we needed to be. It’s tough, but you’ve got to move on from it pretty quick. It definitely was a learning experience for me, and going into this year, I think it’s going to be a source of a lot of motivation for all of us.

HOW MANY LATE MODEL RACES HAVE YOU ENTERED?

I don’t really even know. I think that would take some figuring up. I’ve won 95. I don’t know what my winning percentage is, but I’m sure it’s nothing too crazy. It’s probably 400 or 500 races pretty easily, I would think.

ONE OF YOUR LATE MODEL COMPETITORS ONCE CALLED YOU THE BIGGEST JOKE EVER IN RACING. HOW DID THAT COME ABOUT AND WHAT WAS YOUR REACTION?

There was some excitement in that race. Gosh, that was years ago, but, yeah, me and Lee Pulliam – he’s a really well-respected and accomplished short-track racer – me and him had a little bit of an altercation, I guess you could say, and he went on a little bit of a Twitter rant there, but it’s all part of the past, I guess.

DID THIS SERVE AS MOTIVATION FOR YOU MOVING FORWARD?

I think I learned a lot from that experience. I was a lot younger and that was a pretty prestigious and important race to win, so I think in the moment toward the end of that race, I was just trying to do a little too much with what I had and ended up getting into Lee and we ended up all tangled up.

Looking back on it, you’ve gotta learn from those experiences. It’s one that I wish I had over, but you’ve just got to take those as they are and learn from them and be better the next time.

DO YOU DO ANYTHING BESIDES RACE?

Not really. I’ve never found a hobby that really sticks like that. When I was a kid, I’d come home from school and work on our go-kart or Legend Car or whatever it was at the time, in the evenings, and that’s just how I grew up. I never really found a real hobby. I know people golf and play basketball or whatever, but when I was young, any extra time I had we either spent racing or spent preparing to race, and that’s kind of what I’ve always done. Now I’m older and married and have a 3-year-old and extra time is spent with her, but that’s really about it, I guess.

DO YOU STILL HARBOR CUP SERIES ASPIRATIONS?

Yeah, I think so. I still think about it and hope that that could happen. The age thing, I guess in a way it works against me, but I don’t really necessarily let that eat at me too much. I just feel like if I go out and do a good job and win races and stay up front, I feel like some sort of opportunity will come my way. So my focus is to do everything I can to be prepared and win these Xfinity Series races and do a good job for my team and my partners and just see what happens.