Josh Berry describes his first full NASCAR Cup Series season as an experience.
Berry, 34, breaks it down into different emotional sections. It starts with the excitement of entering the series as a rookie and taking over the No. 4 car at Stewart-Haas Racing, a car that had been dominant with Kevin Harvick and crew chief Rodney Childers.
But before the team had even made it to Daytona, it seemed everyone in the industry knew what was coming for the organization, except for those involved. By May, it was made clear when Gene Haas and Tony Stewart issued a joint statement confirming the doors would close at the end of the year. It left over 300 employees, including Berry, searching for what came next.
“It’s been an experience. It’s been a challenge, for sure,” Berry tells RACER. “But it’s something that I’m still so grateful to have had the opportunity to race in the Cup Series with that team. It was a lot of fun.”
It’s not a stretch to say there were distractions for Berry. Ideally, the only things he would have been focused on were being a rookie, adapting to a new team, and a long Cup Series schedule. Instead, the early-season rumors were hard not to read or hear.
The team benefited from Haas and Stewart’s confirmation of what would happen. Berry felt the announcement coincided with a part of the schedule where he ran well, which opened doors for his 2025 plans. Those plans see him taking over the famed No. 21 at Wood Brothers Racing.
“A lot of races we were really competitive: Iowa, New Hampshire, the first Richmond,” Berry says. “There were a lot of races – the Coke 600 gets forgotten because it was rain-shortened – that were really solid races for us.
“All of those stand out to me as legitimate opportunities to win and unfortunately, it didn’t plan, but we were in contention to win several of those races. You look at Daytona and the opportunity we had there. The Darlington races were other ones where we ran well.”
Berry and the team picked up four top-10 finishes and two top-five finishes. The inaugural event at Iowa Speedway was perhaps their most memorable and bittersweet performance as Berry led 32 laps late before it came down to tire strategies on pit road under the final caution. Childers put four tires on Berry, who came off pit road behind a trio of drivers who had taken two.
The laps led were the most for Berry in a single race. He led at least one lap in 10 races throughout the season.
“The lowlights are hard to say,” Berry says. “As fun as Daytona was, how that ended was really tough. I think probably the biggest lowlight was the Southern 500 just because we were in a really good spot at the end of that race and strategy got away from us, and honestly, I was trying to get too much and put myself in a bad position and ended up wrecked. Especially after wrecking at Daytona. That was a tough one for sure, and one I definitely wish I had back.”
In the summer race at Daytona, Berry ended up on his roof, sliding across the pavement on the backstretch and hitting nose-first into the inside wall. This occurred with two laps to go as Berry led the outside lane.
He finished 26th at Daytona and 31st a week later at Darlington. Those were two of the 10 DNFs the team accumulated.
Berry felt the most comfortable on short tracks and what he described as oddball intermediates like Darlington and Dover. There was a “huge difference” to learning how to drive the Next Gen car at places like Pocono Raceway or the high-speed Michigan International Speedway than Berry had been used for two and a half seasons in the Xfinity Series.
“Those are the areas I need to improve the most,” he says. “Honestly, I think we saw improvement, not consistency, but improvement throughout the year.”
“It’s a grind, for sure and that’s what everyone says and trying to find that balance of the work you’re putting in to prepare versus the time you’re away and with family takes time to figure out,” Berry continued. “Those are the biggest things that stand out.
“The two off weeks were nice to have, but it’s a long year without a doubt. The interesting part is it feels like you have so many seasons within one season. As I said earlier, you start, and everyone is jacked up, and then you go through the spell of what is going on with the team. Then, we gained a lot of momentum through summer and some races that got away from us.
“A lot happens in a season.”
Unfortunately for Berry, what didn’t happen for him was claiming Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors. Berry finished 107 points behind Spire Motorsports contender Carson Hocevar. Although there was disappointment at his end for coming up short, Berry credited Hocevar for doing a great job to earn the award.
And there again, Berry looks at the races that didn’t pan out.
“We just weren’t able to keep pace with him, and he got some strong momentum going toward the last third of the season,” Berry says. “He did a great job and is a great talent.
“Obviously, I’m disappointed we didn’t win, but there was only going to be one winner. It was a tight battle until, honestly, Daytona. It seemed we never got back in contention after the swing we had there and Darlington.”
The experience and lessons of a rookie season will go forward with Berry. He and Wood Brothers Racing began preparing for 2025 before the final checkered flag fell in 2024.
“I (had) already tried on a firesuit for next year and worked on seat things,” Berry says. “I showed up to media day this year without a firesuit and wore Kevin’s (Harvick). So, I feel much more ahead of things. Team Penske and the Wood Brothers do a great job of staying on top of everything.
“We’re going to work on some things early in the offseason and then get some time off. But in January, we’ll be ready to hit the ground running.”