When Josh Berry was tapped to fill in for Chase Elliott after he broke his leg in a snowboarding accident, there was initially some mixed reaction.
Some were surprised Justin Allgaier wasn’t retained to fill in, given the JR Motorsports connection with Hendrick Motorsports. Others felt Corey LaJoie should have been given a shot in a prime-time ride.
In his four starts thus far, Berry has been a solid choice, posting two top 10s, including a runner-up finish in last weekend’s race at Richmond Raceway. While he’s only made a handful of starts thus far, he has delivered, being a legitimate contender late in the race on Sunday (April 2).
Has Berry already proven he’s a candidate for a NASCAR Cup Series ride in 2024, or would he be better served to continue to stick with JR Motorsports in the Xfinity Series for now? Trenton Worsham and Wyatt Watson return this to debate this week’s 2-Headed Monster.
Josh Has Been Berry, Berry Good
Josh Berry has been proving himself to be a very talented driver over the course of his time in NASCAR. He has been a late bloomer in these higher divisions, recently debuting in the Cup Series when the sport’s most popular driver, Chase Elliott, got injured in snowboarding accident and was asked to fill in. No one had super-high expectations for Berry, just keep the car clean and bring some decent runs home for the owners’ points and try to keep it out of trouble.
After a few starts getting the hang of the Next Gen car, also in the midst of mass crew chief suspensions following louver penalties, Berry brought home a second-place finish at Richmond behind his teammate, Kyle Larson. Having moved up through the field steadily after starting 30th, Berry started on the front row on the final restart, putting himself in a position to win if Larson had a bad launch.
I believe going into 2024 Berry will be a hot name to get into a ride at the top level.
As of now, there are not many options are open in his pipeline of Hendrick Motorsports & Chevrolet. Trackhouse Racing Team or Kaulig Racing would have to expand to a third car or Richard Childress Racing expanding to more than two cars once again for that to work.
The other issue that may arise is his age of 32 years old. Does a team want someone with experience, maturity, and respect? Or would they go for the young gun who has lots to learn, may be too aggressive, and take years to develop?
Drivers are routinely starting the…
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