48 Josh Berry
Age: 32 (Oct. 22, 1990)
Hometown: Hendersonville, Tennessee
Resides: Mooresville, North Carolina
Crew Chief: Blake Harris
Standings: 12th (owner’s points)
No. 48 Ally Throwback Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
BACK IN THE GAME: NASCAR’s throwback weekend at Darlington Raceway returns in 2023 and the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet will don a familiar scheme. Alex Bowman paid homage to his spotter, Kevin Hamlin, who ran the red, black, and white scheme in 2007 for Chip Ganassi Racing in what was then-known as the NASCAR Busch Series (now known as the NASCAR Xfinity Series). With Bowman sidelined by injury, Josh Berry will drive the car at Darlington. Click here to see all the angles of the throwback scheme for Sunday’s race at Darlington and click here to see how Bowman surprised his spotter.
BERRY AT THE LADY IN BLACK: Heading into this weekend’s races, Berry has made four Xfinity Series starts at Darlington. He has tallied one top-five finish, two top-10s, and completed 581 of 589 laps at the 1.366-mile venue (98.6%). Berry’s best result was a runner-up finish in May 2021.
SHOT CALLER: Crew chief Blake Harris has been successful at the track “Too Tough to Tame.” In his two NASCAR Cup Series starts at the egg-shaped venue, Harris’ driver has started outside of the top 10 in both starts and helped guide his driver to two top-10 results. In addition to completing every lap in both events (100%), his driver posted an average finish of 6.5. Harris has also been part of three wins at “The Lady in Black,” including Regan Smith’s 2011 victory, which was the first victory for Furniture Row Racing.
IN GOOD COMPANY: Berry is the 12th driver in Hendrick Motorsports history to earn at least three top-10 finishes in his first six starts with the team. Those top 10s came at Phoenix Raceway (10th), Richmond Raceway (a career-best second) and Dover Motor Speedway (10th). Among the other drivers to earn three top 10s in their first six starts for the company: Jeff Gordon, Geoff Bodine, Benny Parsons, Tim Richmond and Ricky Rudd. Fellow fill-in drivers Wally Dallenbach Jr. and Randy LaJoie also accomplished this.
LET THEM COOK: The No. 48 pit crew flexed their muscles, completing the fifth-fastest four-tire pit stop of the 2023 Cup Series season in 9.576 seconds on lap 140 at Kansas Speedway. The team also had the best four-tire stop average in last month’s race at Richmond at 10.388 seconds. The five-man crew consists of Andrew Bridgeforth (rear-tire changer), Jacob Conley (fueler), Allen Holman (jackman), Scott Riddle (tire carrier) and Donnie Tasser (front-tire changer).
CLOSING IN ON 300: Hendrick Motorsports is five points-paying victories away from 300 wins in the NASCAR Cup Series. Twenty drivers have combined to reach the organization’s current total of 295 wins, which is the most in the sport by any one team. With four wins this season, Hendrick Motorsports has posted its 36th multi-win season in the Cup Series. The organization has won at least two races in each of the last 30 seasons.
FAN FEST IS COMING: Hendrick Motorsports will hold its annual fan appreciation event on May 26-27, 2023. Fan Fest will feature driver appearances, food trucks, activities for kids, photo opportunities, engine building demonstrations, pit stop exhibitions and more. Guided tours of the Hendrick Motorsports team shops will also be available. For more information about the festivities, click here.
NEW PARTNER ONBOARD: Hendrick Motorsports welcomed Hexagon to the fold this week as its official metrology hardware and software provider. Running through 2032, the 10-year agreement includes Hexagon’s presenting sponsorship of a 3,000-square-foot advanced Quality Control Lab on Hendrick Motorsports’ Concord, North Carolina, campus. For more information on the partnership, click here.
THE BEST 75: In honor of NASCAR’s 75th anniversary season, Darlington Raceway will recognize the sport’s 75 Greatest Drivers during the throwback weekend. Among those honored are current drivers Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson. To learn more about those being honored with ties to the 14-time championship-winning squad, click here.
ON TOP AT DARLINGTON: The company’s 14 wins at the South Carolina track are the most all-time by a team. NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon’s seven wins account for half of the total. Jimmie Johnson posted three wins at the 1.366-mile track, including the organization’s 200th Cup Series win in 2012. Terry Labonte, Mark Martin, Tim Richmond and Ricky Rudd each tallied one trip to victory lane at the track “Too Tough to Tame.”
SPRING REVIEW: In last year’s spring race at Darlington, Elliott led the team with a fifth-place finish in a backup car. William Byron held the lead with three laps to go (and led 24 laps on the day) but was moved out of the way by the eventual race winner coming to two to go. Larson led 30 laps before a mechanical issue impacted him in stage two.
OUT IN FRONT: Hendrick Motorsports has led the most laps this season with 1,226 circuits out front. The team has led laps in all but one race this season (Atlanta Motor Speedway in March) and has controlled the race for 38% of the laps run. Byron (589) and Larson (553) rank one-two in that statistical category. The team’s total is more than double the total of the team that ranks second (593). The 1,226 circuits in front are the fifth-most ever for the organization through 12 races. Each of the years with higher occurrences: 1996 (1,771 laps led), 1995 (1,629 laps led), 2010 (1,398 laps led) and 2007 (1,384 laps led) were championship seasons for the Concord, North Carolina, based squad.
STAGE SAVANTS: In the 2023 season, Hendrick Motorsports has a series-best nine stage wins. Three of its drivers have tallied a stage victory. Byron leads all drivers with six, while Larson has two and Elliott has one. In the stage racing era, this is tied for the second-most stage wins through 12 races. The high to this point in a season is 11 stage wins, which was accomplished by this organization in 2020.
NEXT GEN NUMBERS: Elliott and Larson are among the three drivers with the most wins in the Next Gen era. Since the start of the 2022 season, both drivers have five victories. Byron is in a three-way tie for fourth in the category with four wins.
Blake Harris, crew chief of the No. 48 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on preparing for Darlington: “Darlington (Raceway) is one of my favorite tracks. It’s a little older and it has a lot of character. It burns tires off and is one of the highest tire degradation tracks we go to, so typically I think it is one of the best races we have. There are a lot of driver inputs and guys who are good at managing their stuff can utilize their ability to do that this weekend. There is a lot that comes into play from the set-up perspective as well. I have had a couple of Southern 500 wins there with other drivers before joining Hendrick Motorsports. When I went to Colorado to join Furniture Row (Racing), we were kind of an underdog team and winning the Southern 500 was the victory that put us on the map. So, I think because of that win, it’s always been a special place for me – and it’s close to home, so I get a little more time at home with my family.”
Harris, on what it takes to win at Darlington: “Darlington (Raceway) is one of those places that if you win a race, it doesn’t matter which one, there is something gritty about that. The guys that can just get up on the wheel, get after it all day, put it all together and survive show a lot of talent. The evolution of the race is the toughest part. You have guys that are going to get into the wall or blow a tire or slide into someone else and lose their cool and there are a lot of pit stops. Darlington is one of the places that has so many layers just to get to the final stage on the lead lap and that doesn’t even take into account the fact that you need a good handling car.”
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
