MOORESVILLE, N.C. — Josh Berry is on the verge of his biggest career opportunity. At the same time, he is contending for the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship and working through the emotions of saying goodbye to a group of co-workers and friends.
Berry, who drives the No. 8 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports, will leave the team at the end of the season to graduate to the NASCAR Cup Series and replace Kevin Harvick aboard the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Ford.
But he’s also contending for the Xfinity Series title without having won a race this season, while preparing for an emotional exit from the team that has put him on the racing map.
Berry and his team have struggled to show the speed they had in racking up three victories last season.
“It’s definitely a little different. I don’t feel like anybody has done anything specifically to hurt our performance,” Berry said Tuesday. “I am very fortunate to have been at JRM as long as I have been and personal ties there make it important to finish this year on a positive note. Everybody has been working really hard. Obviously, in the background I have been doing little things here and there with Stewart-Haas, but nothing major. We feel like we are really focused in on this last seven races.”
Berry enters the Xfinity Series Playoffs ranked seventh in the 12-driver field.
“The playoffs bring out random events, random stuff that happens,” Berry said. “Playoff points don’t guarantee you anything. I don’t feel like we have to win in the first round, we just need to be solid.”
Still, Berry knows that the final seven races are not just about chasing a championship. It will be an end of an era that saw him go from a driver struggling to compete to striking a friendship with JR Motorsports owner Dale Earnhardt Jr., landing a late model ride with the team and parlaying that into a national championship and an opportunity in the Xfinity Series.
“At this point, I am trying to enjoy it a little bit and not worry so much about the last seven races and how it reflects on the last decade,” said Berry, who turns 33 on Oct. 22. “No matter what happens this last playoff run, I am extremely grateful for these years at JRM. They changed my life. Dale changed my life, and Kelley and L.W. and everybody there have had an influence on me that took me to where I probably wasn’t going to race anything anymore, to racing a late model car and having tremendous success.
“We accomplished a lot in that car and had a lot of fun. For that to translate into the Xfinity Series and now the Cup Series is not something that I ever expected out of it,” Berry continued. “I don’t know how I am going to feel throughout the rest of it. We are going to take it one step at a time. I feel like it’s business as usual. We keep racing and keep working hard.
“Obviously, we’d like to have a storybook ending with wins and competing for a championship, but if that doesn’t happen we will still be grateful for each other and all of the things that we accomplished together. We are moving forward and focused on trying to end this thing strong.”