JOSH BERRY
Richmond Advance
No. 4 SUNNYD® Ford Mustang Dark Horse

Event Overview

● Event: Richmond 400 (Round 7 of 36)
● Time/Date: 7 p.m. EDT on Sunday, March 31
● Location: Richmond (Va.) Raceway
● Layout: .75-mile oval
● Laps/Miles: 400 laps/300 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 70 laps / Stage 2: 160 laps / Final Stage: 170 laps
● TV/Radio: FOX / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Notes of Interest

● The next race on the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is Richmond (Va.) Raceway and the 33-year-old Cup Series rookie Josh Berry has turned laps there in the NextGen car. Making his Cup Series debut at .75-mile oval last year subbing for an injured Chase Elliott, Berry qualified 30th before driving through the field to take home a runner-up finish, leading 10 laps along the way. Coincidentally, Berry’s spotter this season is Eddie D’Hondt, Chase Elliott’s former spotter who helped him navigate the Richmond traffic to his runner-up finish last year.

● Berry has made four starts at Richmond in the NASCAR Xfinity Series for JR Motorsports. In those starts, he’s earned one top-five (third in 2023) and three top-10s, finishing outside of the top-10 just once. Additionally, Berry has led 64 circuits in Xfinity Series competition with an average starting position of 14.3 and an average finish of 10.3.

● Berry first made a name for himself on short tracks, climbing the ranks to earn his seat in the Cup Series by dominating at the grassroots level. During his days driving for Dale Earnhardt Jr., as part of the JR Motorsports Late Model program, Berry amassed an impressive 95 victories in his 262 starts with the team, with 189 top-fives and 219 top-10s. He was also the NASCAR Weekly Series champion in 2020, finishing every race but one inside the top-10 that season.

● Crew chief Rodney Childers has 35 Cup Series starts at Richmond in his career atop the pit box. In those starts, Childers’ drivers have amassed six pole positions, one win (Kevin Harvick in August 2022), 12 top-five finishes, 18 top-10s, 319 laps led, an average starting position of 9.4 and an average finish of 14.4. Childers’ drivers have zero DNFs in those 35 starts.

Josh Berry, Driver of the No. 4 SUNNYD Ford Mustang Dark Horse

Richmond is another short track that you’ve called one of your favorites. What are your expectations of yourself this weekend?

“I think Richmond is one of the tracks that we expect to run well at. Stewart-Haas as a whole has been good on short tracks and has a good program, and I have had success there in the Xfinity Series, as well as in the Cup Series last year in the No. 9 car. I think it’s one of the places that we circle on our calendar knowing that I have a long history in short-track racing, and Rodney (Childers, crew chief) comes from that same background. I think it will be a strong showing, we just have to go execute to the best of our ability and there is no reason we can’t go run in the top-10.”

Bristol was an unusual race two weekends ago as tires were wearing out much more quickly than ever before there, creating chaos. What did the team learn from that race, and how will those lessons translate to this weekend in Richmond?

“Bristol was so unusual, but keeping the tires on it at Richmond will be important. It probably won’t be as dramatic as Bristol was, but all in all I thought we did a good job managing that race and adapting to those odd circumstances, and that gives me confidence heading to Richmond. The more unusual circumstances we face as a team and are able to work through them and overcome them, the better we will be in the long run.”

Richmond has a reputation of being a single-file race. Can you expand on why the style of racing at Richmond requires more than just cutting laps until the end?

“Richmond requires a lot of strategy to manage the tires. Once the field gets on different tire strategies, you will see a lot more passing and opportunities to gain or lose track position. For the most part, it’s challenging because everyone is running hard, but you have to still manage your tires so you have something at the end when you need to make those challenges to gain a couple of spots.”

Have your goals for the season changed now that the Cup Series has visited every style of track?

“Our goals haven’t changed; we are just so focused on getting better. I think we have a lot of good tracks coming up for the No. 4 team and we have made a lot of progress as a team. It’s just going to take some time to get more experience and clean a few things up, but I think we can get there.”

Looking ahead, the Cup Series heads to Martinsville next week. What do you look forward to these next two weekends, knowing you come from a short-track background?

“Both Richmond and Martinsville should be really good for us. More than anything, Stewart Haas as a company has been strong on the short tracks, so I think we can take the standard we have as an organization and apply what we learned at Phoenix and Bristol and apply those things to the next two weeks and put together two really strong runs.”

No. 4 SUNNYD 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

Richmond (Va.) Competition Notes

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (March 26, 2024) – Michael McDowell and the No. 34 Ford Mustang Dark Horse head up to the Richmond Raceway for an Easter weekend, short-track night race.

After earning valuable stage points and looking to bounce back after Circuit of the Americas, McDowell returns to the 0.75-mile track with hopes of adding to his top-10 totals on the year. The No. 34 team finished sixth place in the 2023 spring race, his best finish ever at Richmond.

Long John Silver’s, a long-time Front Row Motorsports partner, returns its iconic colors on the No. 34 this weekend.

Track activity will begin with practice and qualifying on Saturday, March 30th at 10:30 a.m. ET. The 400-lap event will take place Sunday, March 31st at 7:00 p.m. ET and will be televised live on FOX. Fans can also listen in on the action live from Sirius XM and the Motor Racing Network.

No. 34 Long John Silver’s Ford Mustang Dark Horse:

DRIVER MICHAEL MCDOWELL:

“We just need to continue to execute properly and keep showing the speed with our Ford Mustang Dark Horse. There is a lot of potential with this group, and everyone is working hard. We will see the top-10 and top-five finishes come to us if we keep it up.”

CREW CHIEF TRAVIS PETERSON:

“We have a totally different attitude towards the short tracks this year with the new Mustang. We’ve made a lot of great gains and it has shown. I think we need a little more speed, but I think we can compete in the top-10 again and have a good day. Michael and everyone on the team are doing a good job and these better finishes will come to us.”

ABOUT FRONT ROW MOTORSPORTS

Front Row Motorsports (FRM) is a winning organization in the NASCAR Cup and CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. The team is the 2021 Daytona 500 and 2022 CRAFTSMAN Truck Series champions. The team was founded in 2004 and is owned by successful entrepreneur, Bob Jenkins. FRM fields the No. 34 and the No. 38 NASCAR Cup Series teams along with the No. 38 CRAFTSMAN Truck Series team from its Mooresville, N.C. headquarters. Visit teamfrm.com and follow FRM on social media: Twitter at @Team_FRM, Instagram at @team_frm and Facebook at facebook.com/FrontRowMotorsports.

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Richmond Advance | Tuesday, March 26, 2024

Cole Custer, driver of the No. 00 Stewart-Haas Ford Mustang Dark Horse in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, is the defending series champion who comes into this weekend’s event at Richmond Raceway with a streak of three straight top-five finishes overall and three straight at the Virginia short track.

COLE CUSTER, No. 00 Stewart-Haas Ford Mustang Dark Horse – HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE GOING TO A TRACK LIKE RICHMOND WHEN YOU’RE ON A ROLL? “Yeah, we’ve definitely had a solid streak here. Talking with JT and all of our guys after the race we’re hungry for that little bit more. We’ve really been running solid, but I feel like we’ve been maximizing days really good. Our pit crew has been really good. They’ve been on it. Our guys have been really good about adjustments through the race and trying to maximize our day, but we want that little bit more that can lead to winning races. I feel like we’re doing a good job right now, it’s just how we finish the thing off.”

YOU’VE GONE FROM 11TH TO 3RD IN THE STANDINGS DURING THIS THREE WEEK STREAK. WHAT DOES THAT DO FOR A TEAM? “It builds some confidence just because I feel like even on our not best days recently we’ve been able to run top five and have good points and be able to really maximize as good as we could. I feel like when we do have the days that we want and the speed that we want, we’re gonna really be able to make it happen. It’s just trying to get that on a consistent basis, but I feel like all the guys in the shop are working extremely hard right now and I think we have some good stuff coming right now, it’s just a matter of putting it all together.”

HOW HAS THE CHAMPIONSHIP IMPACTED YOUR MINDSET GOING INTO THE SEASON AND HOW HAS THE SEASON GONE BECAUSE OF THAT? “I think the biggest thing was just how you’ve got to keep intensity up to try and go win races. We did such a good job last year and ended on such a high note, but at the end of the day that doesn’t mean anything or pay anything for this year, so we have to really dig deep to figure out what we need to keep grinding. We’ve done a great job of maximizing our days and making the most of it, but we’re gonna keep working and trying to get that little bit better to get back to Victory Lane.”

ARE ANY TEAMS TALKING TO YOU ABOUT RUNNING ONE-OFF RACES OR FOR NEXT YEAR YET? “We’ll take that as it comes. I feel like I love where I’m at right now with my group of guys. We go and compete for wins and championships every year. That’s a dream come true in any top three series of NASCAR, so to run for great owners like Gene Haas and Tony Stewart and be able to compete for wins and championships is a dream come true. I’m definitely really happy. Obviously, I’m hungry for that next opportunity in Cup. I feel like I have a little bit of unfinished business in the Cup Series maybe, but at the end of the day I feel like you just make the most of what’s in front of you at the moment. I feel like we have a great group of people who can go win races.”

HOW IMPORTANT HAS TIRE MANAGEMENT BECOME AT RICHMOND? “Huge. I mean, Richmond is probably the most similar to being on ice without ice skates. That’s what it feels like after about five laps, so you’re just slipping and sliding around and you have to just manage your tires the most that you can to try and have something at the end of the run because there will be guys that don’t have that long run car and you’ll just eat them up on the long runs, especially with it being a day race for Xfinity. It’s all you can to keep the tires on it. I mean, it will kill them after five laps, so you definitely have to have the car balance good to keep the tires on it, but then you have your job as a driver to try and make sure you don’t overslip the tires and kill them.”

IS A HOT DOG A SANDWICH AND WHAT TOPPINGS DO YOU PUT ON IT? “A hot dog is not a sandwich. I don’t know who came up with that, but I don’t think of a sandwich whenever I eat a hot dog. And then for topping I’m usually pretty simple – usually ketchup, mustard and relish – but when you go to Martinsville I usually get the classic, but I don’t like the slaw. The only thing I don’t like is the slaw on the Martinsville hot dog.”

WHAT HAS BEEN THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE WAY LAST YEAR STARTED TO THIS YEAR? “I feel like from the start of last year, I mean it’s just such a different ballgame for us from a notebook standpoint. There were so many things that we were trying to figure out at that point of what to bring to the racetrack from a setup standpoint and I feel like we just really built a great notebook throughout the year and now we’ve been able to really unload exactly where we need to be for the most part and have solid top five cars where we want them. I think there’s been a couple of little changes with tires and rule changes with the aero side a little bit in the Xfinity Series from last year, so just trying to adapt to that a little bit, just what we maybe need to do a little bit, but at the end of the day I think we’re right there in the mix and just have to put it all together.”

BUBBA POLLARD IS MAKING HIS DEBUT. DO YOU PAY MUCH ATTENTION TO THAT? “I think it’s exciting. It’s awesome that he’s getting that opportunity running NASCAR in one of the top three series. Obviously, he’s one of the best race car drivers to ever do it I feel like. At the short track level, I think that’s no easy task to go win the amount of races that he’s won, so the only thing he’s gonna struggle with is the obvious – there’s not much practice, he’s never been in the cars before, so even though he’s obviously a talented race car driver that can probably do it, just trying to adapt and get the balance of the car how he wants it – just go through the weekend how he needs to and get every step of the way right is gonna be difficult for him, but I think he definitely had the potential to go out there and run good for sure.”

IT’S BEEN SIX WEEKS SINCE THE BABY ANNOUNCEMENT. HOW ARE THINGS GOING? ARE YOU READING BOOKS OR WAITING UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE? “We’ll probably start getting on all that stuff soon. We actually just moved houses over the off weekend a couple weeks ago. We just needed a little bit more room for the baby and everything, so that kept us busy, but I think now we’ll start probably putting together the baby room and start getting on things a little bit. My wife, Kari, she’s doing good. She’s definitely been a champ through the whole thing and we’re just really excited. We’re excited to bring another Custer into the world and can’t wait for August.”

CAN YOU GIVE A SENSE WITH HAVING THE CUP AND XFINITY EXPERIENCE HOW YOU KEEP YOUR SKILLS SHARP FOR BOTH BECAUSE THEY ARE VERY DIFFERENT? “I think you just have to keep pushing yourself to find ways to make yourself better. I think it can be easy to get complacent even when you’re running top five and top 10 in Xfinity and winning some races, but you have to keep pushing yourself to figure out, ‘OK, how can I do this move a little bit different in the race’ or try to get ahead on what the track is doing or try and be aggressive on restarts, keeping up with what different moves people are coming up with to try and work on restarts and be aggressive because you just don’t want to get complacent. I think that’s the biggest thing. You have to keep working on different little things that you can try to make yourself better because in the Cup Series everything moves so fast and evolves that it pushes you to keep evolving as a driver, whereas Xfinity I feel like it’s maybe not evolving quite as fast but you can still keep up with it and try to push yourself to be that Cup level driver.”

CAN YOU GIVE AN EXAMPLE OF HOW YOU HAVE GOTTEN BETTER SINCE THE MIDDLE OF LAST SEASON OR THE START OF THIS ONE? “I think it’s just every week the work that you put into studying restarts, passing, I mean you look at this weekend and it’s like that move Shane Van Gisbergen put on in the Xfinity race and Ross tried it in the Cup race into turn one, where he crossed him over. Staying up on things like that to push yourself to keep trying to be that aggressive and try to make those big moves because those things are huge for a driver to keep pushing yourself. I think also one of the big things for me is just how you work with your team to try to stay ahead of things and try and get the cars how you want them to drive because you’ve got to work weeks in advance to really go through all the details. I think being able to really work with your team how you need to and get the cars how you want to when you show up to the track is a huge part of it.”

THIS IS PART OF A LONG STRETCH GOING THROUGH THE END OF APRIL WITHOUT AN OFF WEEKEND. HOW IMPORTANT IS THIS PERIOD? “It’s huge just trying to get your bearings straight. You have to figure out your problems now and try to really address everything and using the off weekends to your advantage to try and get ahead on things because when it goes to that stretch it’s very easy to get behind, so you just have to try to keep up with it right now and really get ahead on what your problems are and try to fix them. I think that will set you up through the whole stretch.”

CAN YOU REMEMBER MUCH ABOUT THE MOVIE ‘CARS’ WHEN IT CAME OUT AND IF IT HAD AN IMPACT ON YOU? “I thought as a kid that it was one of the coolest things having a movie based kind of on NASCAR, so I was definitely a fan of it. Did it change how I looked at the sport or got me into it? No. I was already kind of into it before that, but I feel like as a kid that loved NASCAR it was cool to see other people really excited about it and be making that big of an impact. It was a really cool movie and I was a fan of it.”

Richmond (Va.) Raceway Competition Notes

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (March 26, 2024) – Todd Gilliland and the No. 38 team head to the Richmond (Va.) Raceway for NASCAR Cup Series on Easter Weekend.

Coming off of a 26th place finish at the Circuit of the Americas, Gilliland and the 38 team sit 26th in points and look to move up the standings this weekend.

Gilliland will be making his fifth start at Richmond, he finished 15th in the spring race last season and is looking to build on his 2024 results.

Track activity will begin with practice and qualifying on Saturday, March 30th at 10:30 a.m. ET. The 400-lap event will take place Sunday, March 31st at 7:00 p.m. ET and will be televised live on FOX. Fans can also listen in on the action live from Sirius XM and the Motor Racing Network.

No. 38 FARXIGA Ford Mustang Dark Horse:

DRIVER TODD GILLILAND:

“COTA didn’t play out like we wanted it to, but it’s a new week and a new track. We had a pretty solid run in last year’s spring race, so that’s the standard for this weekend. It’s cool to have a new partner on our Ford Mustang Dark Horse, hopefully we can give them a good showing.”

CREW CHIEF RYAN BERGENTY:

“COTA feels like a missed opportunity for sure, but you will have races like that. We just have to put it in the past and get our minds right for Richmond. We have a new partner this weekend we want to show them off, and the best way to do that is be up front.”

ABOUT FRONT ROW MOTORSPORTS

Front Row Motorsports (FRM) is a winning organization in the NASCAR Cup and CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. The team is the 2021 Daytona 500 and 2022 CRAFTSMAN Truck Series champions. The team was founded in 2004 and is owned by successful entrepreneur, Bob Jenkins. FRM fields the No. 34 and the No. 38 NASCAR Cup Series teams along with the No. 38 CRAFTSMAN Truck Series team from its Mooresville, N.C. headquarters. Visit teamfrm.com and follow FRM on social media: Twitter at @Team_FRM, Instagram at @team_frm and Facebook at facebook.com/FrontRowMotorsports.