● A year ago, Josh Berry was part of the 38-car field taking part in the inaugural NASCAR Xfinity Series race on the streets of downtown Chicago. A relative road-racing novice, making his 11th of 15 career Xfinity Series appearances on circuits with left and right turns, Berry rolled down South Columbus Drive for the start of the race from his 23rd grid position. He was in that very same position when the race was ultimately called due to weather after completing just 25 of the scheduled 55 laps. In his 15 career Xfinity Series road-course starts, Berry has claimed four top-five finishes and nine top-10s.
● Heading to Chicago, the 33-year-old NASCAR Cup Series rookie is 19th in the 2024 driver standings, 53 points behind the 16th and final playoff position. Berry sits atop the Sunoco Rookie of the Year standings, 25 markers ahead of second-place Carson Hocevar.
● Crew chief Rodney Childers is a veteran of 54 road-course races atop the pit box in the NASCAR Cup Series. In those starts, Childers’ drivers have tallied one win – Kevin Harvick in June 2017 at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway – eight top-five finishes and 17 top-10s. Two of those starts came with Berry at the wheel of the No. 4 Ford Mustang Dark Horse this season at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, and Sonoma.
● Overstock.com adorns Berry’s No. 4 Ford Mustang Dark Horse in the streets of the Windy City, but with the patriotic red, white, and blue colors to commemorate the Fourth of July. The partnership amplifies the recent relaunch of Overstock.com, home of crazy good deals that offer quality and style for less. Overstock.com is for the savvy shopper who loves the thrill of the hunt and it includes product categories customers know and love, like patio furniture, home furniture and area rugs, while reintroducing jewelry, watches and health-and-beauty products.
Josh Berry, Driver of the No. 4 Overstock.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse
You turned laps on the Chicago Street Course in last year’s weather-shortened Xfinity Series race. What were you able to learn in those 25 laps that might help you this Sunday in the Cup Series race?
“Chicago is really tight, and I remember it just being a place that takes a lot of attention to get around there. With the corners being pretty heavy braking zones and everyone trying to make the corners, keeping your car clean is really important. It’s tough to pass there, so being patient and methodical is something that will help make it to the end of the race. It’s no secret that I am not great on road courses, so this will be another opportunity for me to learn and just get experience in the NextGen car.”
This is another weekend for you in the NextGen car on a road course. What are some of the things that have helped you adapt this year to this car that is somewhat new to you?
“For me, it’s all about getting comfortable with how the NextGen car handles, what I need as far as the balance goes, and then just learning what it takes to race in the Cup Series. All the different tracks have characteristics that make them unique and require different things and, for me, it’s just getting time in the car and taking in as much as I can each race. I knew my rookie year was going to be hard and I took on this challenge with the mindset that I need to be patient with myself and just try to grow each week. That is the goal again this weekend at a place that I know is a challenge for me, considering my lack of road-course-racing experience.”
The No. 4 team has developed a process for preparing for the weekend – does that change with a place that you don’t have as much experience at?
“No, not really. We try to keep it pretty similar each week – it’s hard to get a really good feel on the simulator just because it’s not the actual car. Ford has a really good simulator and we definitely utilize their tools to get ready each week, but the best thing is just seat time. We also don’t want to put certain races on the backburner because they all are important to me, especially in my rookie season. For us, we weren’t going to shortchange Nashville for Chicago because they are both places that we will need to prepare for. So, no, our process doesn’t really change.”
● Event: Grant Park 165 (Round 20 of 36)
● Time/Date: 4:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday, July 7
● Location: Chicago Street Course
● Layout: 2.2-mile, 12-turn street course
● Laps/Miles: 75 laps/165 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 20 laps / Stage 2: 25 laps / Final Stage: 30 laps
● TV/Radio: NBC / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
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