JOSH BERRY
Darlington Advance
No. 4 Overstock.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse
Event Overview
● Event: Cook Out Southern 500 (Round 26 of 36)
● Time/Date: 6 p.m. EDT on Sunday, Sept. 1
● Location: Darlington (S.C.) Raceway
● Layout: 1.366-mile oval
● Laps/Miles: 367 laps/501.32 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 115 laps / Stage 2: 115 laps / Final Stage: 137 laps
● TV/Radio: USA / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Notes of Interest
● Sunday’s Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway marks the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series regular-season finale. It’s also the site of Josh Berry’s best finish this season, a third-place drive in the Goodyear 400 when the Cup Series first visited the quirky, 1.366-mile egg-shaped oval in May. Berry scored another third-place finish five races later in June at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon. Both were one spot shy of Berry’s career-best Cup Series finish of second, earned in only his sixth career start on April 2, 2023 at Richmond (Va.) Raceway.
● When Berry finished third at Darlington in May, it came in just his 25th career NASCAR Cup Series start. It also allowed Berry to avenge his Darlington debut from the year before when he finished 30th while subbing for the injured Alex Bowman in Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 48 entry.
● Last Saturday at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway, Berry started the Coke Zero Sugar 400 fifth in the 40-car field and scored his first career stage win. He was running second in the closing laps of the race when he was involved in a multicar accident that ended his race six laps short of the finish.
● Berry has a pair of top-fives and four top-10s in six career NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at Darlington, best among them being a runner-up effort in May 2021 for JR Motorsports (JRM). Berry finished fifth in his most recent Xfinity Series outing at Darlington in September 2023, also for JRM.
● The Southern 500 will be Childers’ 24th race as a crew chief at Darlington. In his 23 previous races there, Childers has won three times, all with driver Kevin Harvick. The first victory came in the 2014 Southern 500 where Harvick won the pole and led a race-high 238 laps. The second came in the May 2020 400-mile race where Harvick led a race-high 159 laps. The third victory came in the 2020 Southern 500 where Harvick led 32 laps. Only nine times has a Childers-led driver finished outside of the top-10 at Darlington.
● Overstock.com adorns Berry’s No. 4 Ford Mustang Dark Horse this weekend at Darlington. The partnership amplifies the recent relaunch of Overstock.com, home of crazy good deals that offer quality and style for less. Overstock.com 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
This is the last race of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series regular season in your rookie campaign, and it’s at a track you have historically done well at. How are you approaching this weekend knowing you can potentially punch your ticket into the playoffs?
“The biggest thing is to stay focused on our process and not get complacent. This No. 4 team gives me all the tools and support and confidence each weekend to go run hard and try to win races and, this weekend, yes there is more on the line, but as a group we are looking at it as a chance to show our potential as a group. We learned a lot in the spring and we know this weekend is a long race and the track will evolve, so it’s just preparing to react accordingly, keeping the car clean, and trying to maximize on what we do well to get ourselves into the playoffs.”
This Sunday’s race is 500 miles, and transitions from day to night. How do you mentally prepare for a long race at a track that requires a lot of focus to avoid the “Darlington Stripe.”
“It’s definitely a challenge to stay focused for such a long race and it is certainly easy to get into the wall a little bit, so doing all you can to just stay sharp and lean into your team during the race is helpful. We all know it’s a long event with a lot of chaos, especially late in the race, so just trying to stay ahead of the eight ball when it comes to not getting too relaxed helps. I think it’s a balance because it’s easy to be too intense and wear yourself out early, but I enjoy short-track racing, so I am kind of used to the long days.”
NASCAR announced it will race in Mexico City next year. What is your take on that addition to the schedule?
“I think we need to applaud NASCAR for putting our sport on an international stage. This is the first step for our sport to see what we can do to grow and showcase what NASCAR is to new fans, and I am excited to be a part of the group of drivers that gets the opportunity to build the sport that I love. Hopefully, I can keep learning how to race at road courses so I can be competitive when we go there next June.”
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
