JOSH BERRY
Michigan Advance
No. 4 Overstock.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse
Event Overview
● Event: FireKeepers Casino 400 (Round 24 of 36)
● Time/Date: 2:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday, Aug. 18
● Location: Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn
● Layout: 2-mile oval
● Laps/Miles: 200 laps / 400 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 45 laps / Stage 2: 75 laps / Final Stage: 80 laps
● TV/Radio: USA / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Notes of Interest
● Next up for Josh Berry and the No. 4 Overstock.com Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing is Sunday’s FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, where he’s made two previous starts in the NASCAR Cup Series. The first came in 2021 as a substitute in the No. 7 entry for driver Corey LaJoie. Berry started 24th and finished 26th. He returned in 2023 in the No. 42 Legacy Motor Club entry and started 35th but saw his day end on lap 50 of the scheduled 200-lap race after being involved in an on-track incident.
● With three points-paying races left on the 2024 Cup Series regular-season calendar, Berry ranks 23rd in the driver standings, 85 points behind 16th-place driver Daniel Suarez, who currently claims the final playoff position. Berry is second in the Sunoco Rookie of the Year standings, only two markers behind the leader Carson Hocevar.
● While Berry has limited experience behind the wheel of a Cup Series car at the 2-mile D-shaped oval in Michigan, he is no stranger to speed there in the Xfinity Series. The 33-year-old has three Michigan starts under the JR Motorsports banner, notching a top-10 finish in all three. In the most recent Xfinity Series start there, Berry qualified on the pole, finishing the first stage in second and the second stage in seventh, and took the checkered flag in the runner-up position.
● If there is one track crew chief Rodney Childers knows well, it’s Michigan. In 35 Cup Series starts there atop the pit box, Childers has five wins (August 2022, both races of a doubleheader weekend in 2020, 2019 and 2018). In addition to those wins, Childers’ drivers amassed 12 top-five finishes, 17 top-10s, and two pole awards. In his last Michigan outing with Harvick last year, Harvick made an impressive charge through the field from the 22nd starting position and earned an eighth-place finish.
● Overstock.com adorns Berry’s No. 4 Ford Mustang Dark Horse at Michigan this weekend. 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
Michigan is a track where you’ve found speed and consistency during your Xfinity Series career, and have cut laps in fill-in roles in the Cup Series. How does that help you heading into this weekend knowing you’ve shown you can run well at the 2-mile oval?
“Seat time is so important to me and, any time I have been able to get more laps, I feel like I get more confident and comfortable. And the NextGen car has been something I have had to adapt to this year, but I feel like I just get more and more comfortable each weekend, which helps. Having success there in the past and knowing what it takes to find speed there in the Xfinity car gives me some experience, but it also has a lot to do with the cars we brought. With that said, I will stick to the process our team has put together and we will be prepared to put our best foot forward and run hard on Sunday.”
Rodney (Childers) and Kevin (Harvick) had a lot of success at Michigan together. What are you leaning on from their time together to get you prepared to go there with the No. 4 team?
“Obviously Rodney and Kevin have done a phenomenal job of creating a deep notebook filled with what worked for them and the No. 4 program and I hope that I can use what they have found and build off that. It helps that I have experience in a Cup car, so I can talk about what I felt in those races and help Rodney set up our car for what I think I will need and compare that to what Kevin needed. It is all just a starting point until we get to practice and see how our setup works on track, and then we go tweak it to get some of the finer details ironed out.”
You have three races left in the regular season – what are some of the biggest things you have learned this year?
“I think the biggest thing is that Cup racing is hard. These guys across the board are all really good at what they do and getting a win takes a near perfect day because the level of competition is just so high. I think adding to that, just learning to be patient and trust myself and what I am doing because we have been in the mix for a win a couple of times and that just gives me the confidence that I can do this.”
The final three tracks are good tracks for you, on paper. How do you stay focused on one race at a time when it feels like the next three tracks are all in your wheelhouse?
“I think just staying really committed to our process. It would be easy to say, ‘I feel confident,’ and just rely on that, but our team is really good about diving into the details and making sure we get everything we can out of our prep so we can go to the track with a really solid foundation to work from. The fact that the tracks just happen to be good ones for me is an added bonus.”
No. 4 Overstock.com Team Roster
Primary Team Members
Driver: Josh Berry
Hometown: Hendersonville, Tennessee
Crew Chief: Rodney Childers
Hometown: Mooresville, North Carolina
Car Chief: Robert “Cheddar” Smith
Hometown: Whitewater, Wisconsin
Engineer: Dax Gerringer
Hometown: Gibsonville, North Carolina
Engineer: Billy Kuebler
Hometown: Saline, Michigan
Spotter: Eddie D’Hondt
Hometown: Levittown, New York
Over-The-Wall Members
Front Tire Changer: Daniel Coffey
Hometown: Granite Falls, North Carolina
Rear Tire Changer: Daniel Smith
Hometown: Concord, North Carolina
Tire Carrier: Mason Flynt
Hometown: High Point, North Carolina
Jack Man: Brandon Banks
Hometown: High Point, North Carolina
Fuel Man: Evan Marchal
Hometown: Westfield, Indiana
Road Crew Members
Mechanic: Tyler Trosper
Hometown: Mooresville, North Carolina
Mechanic: Chris Capaldi
Hometown: Armada, Michigan
Tire Specialist: Zac Lupien
Hometown: Pine Bluff, Arkansas
Engine Tuner: Robert Brandt
Hometown: Mobile, Alabama
Transporter Co-Driver: Jake Zierhoffer
Hometown: Billerica, Massachusetts
Transporter Co-Driver: Stephen Mitchell
Hometown: Woodville, Ohio
