CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Emotion is perhaps the best element of not only motorsports, but sports in general.
The thrill of victory, the agony of defeat and everything in between make sport we love more memorable, not only for spectators but for the participants as well.
That was on display again April 11 when JR Motorsports driver Josh Berry scored his first NASCAR Xfinity Series victory at Virginia’s Martinsville Speedway.
The path Berry traveled to that moment was long and winding with more than 10 years spent racing late models for JR Motorsports, winning multiple championships and countless races along the way.
Dale Earnhardt Jr., co-owner of JR Motorsports, never hesitated to sing Berry’s praises through the years. The two met while competing against each other on iRacing and have forged an unbreakable bond as racers and friends.
Berry left his native Tennessee and moved to North Carolina to work for Earnhardt.
During that time, he won a track championship at North Carolina’s historic Hickory Motor Speedway, claimed the CARS Late Model Stock Tour title, won the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 at Martinsville Speedway and last year he won the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series national championship.
As a result, Berry got the opportunity he so justly deserved, a multi-race deal to drive the No. 8 JR Motorsports Chevrolet in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
“When I got this opportunity, I felt so ready coming off an amazing season last year, but to be honest, man I was scared I wouldn’t win,” Berry admitted after the Martinsville victory. “We won almost 30 races (last year), winning almost everywhere and anywhere in a late model, then to come into this. … I’m 30 years old. I should be ready to win. The only chance I’ve got is to win.
“I wanted to win bad and prove myself.”
There was no better place for Berry to do that than Martinsville, a track he has become so familiar with during his late model career. He’d raced there many times and won the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 from the pole in 2019.
His experience was evident almost from the start of the race, which began on April 9 and was delayed by rain for two days.
Berry started 29th and took the lead after only 78 laps of the .526-mile paperclip-shaped track.
Berry led a race-high 95 laps, including the final 29 circuits.
Emotion flowed as Berry emerged from his car, fists in the air after he conquered the mighty beast known as Martinsville Speedway. The crowd, though limited due to COVID-19, roared in approval as Berry was interviewed following his victory.
“I guess they like me here,” Berry said while grinning from ear to ear, the emotion of the moment flowing freely.
Not that far away, from his home in North Carolina, Earnhardt had been watching with bated breath. He wanted this moment for Berry — this opportunity for Berry to prove he was more than a late model racer.
“With about 20 (laps) to go I got to where I couldn’t watch it anymore. With about five to go, I was kind of peaking,” Earnhardt explained. “My heart was beating so fast, I’ve never felt that way about a race, even when my dad raced. Certainly, when I raced, I’ve never been so nervous about a finish.
“We cried some happy, happy tears,” Earnhardt continued. “The reason why it’s so emotional is because this has just been such a long work in progress. It took a lot of years to get to this point. I think I’m not saying anything Josh doesn’t know, we weren’t sure whether we’d really ever get the chance to give Josh enough opportunities.”
The opportunity for Berry to run races in the No. 8 car came after JR Motorsports signed rookie Sam Mayer, who is unable to race for the team until he turns 18 later this year.
That left the front end of the schedule in the No. 8 Chevrolet open and Earnhardt saw it as the time to give Berry the opportunity he so deserved. It was a financial risk as the team didn’t have the needed sponsorship to put Berry in the car, but it was a risk Earnhardt believed was worth taking.
Berry proved Earnhardt’s intuition correct.
“The reality of it is he stuck his neck out pretty far by giving me this opportunity,” Berry said of Earnhardt. “When it comes to the financial part of racing, this was not the safest or smartest. So this is a big day for him. He believed in me and believed that I could do this.”
The question now is what comes next? Berry’s deal to race in the NASCAR Xfinity Series ends the moment Mayer turns 18. Kelley Earnhardt Miller, Earnhardt’s sister and co-owner of JR Motorsports, said on Twitter that if a sponsor can be found, the team would run Berry for the entire season.
Whether or not Berry gets a full-time ride in one of NASCAR’s national series, the emotions that flowed on that sunny Sunday at Martinsville Speedway won’t soon be forgotten.