Legacy Motor Club hasn’t reached its full potential yet but it views Josh Berry as a catalyst to get it there and that’s a tremendous point of pride for a driver that has spent all summer racing for his life.
Berry first got the inclination that his job at Wood Brothers Racing could be in jeopardy around the Texas Motor Speedway race in May. With only three finishes better than 25th through 11 races, the follow-up campaign to his first victory could not have started any worse.
It also included three DNFs.
The rumors that Wood Brothers could become a landing spot for reigning O’Reilly Series champion Jesse Love ultimately proved accurate. Without any funding to bring with him to a team across all three national touring divisions, Berry was legitimately forced to reconcile with what life after racing could look like.
It wasn’t as simple as just ‘go back to JR Motorsports’ either because that required funding and sponsorship he didn’t have.
“People are like, oh he can go run this O’Reilly Series car or that one and that wasn’t even a remote possibility,” Berry told Motorsport.com on Thursday. “Like, this was not even a thought or an avenue for someone like me to even perform my way into an opportunity, because I didn’t have the funding.
“I almost felt like, for me, it was more realistic to race my way into another Cup Series job but there weren’t any out there.”
North Wilkesboro was something of a low point, three weeks after announcing his impending free agency, being forced to start at the back of the field due to a qualifying rainout despite having one of the fastest cars in practice.
A rare Christopher Bell mistake sent Berry into the wall and out of the race. It wasn’t an ideal outcome for a driver, again, racing for his life. Since this moment, he has finished no worse than ninth over the past six races.
“I don’t feel like I’ve done anything differently over the past two months from what I was doing earlier in the year,” Berry said. “I don’t feel like I’m preparing any different.
“I made comments after New Hampshire that I pushed the limits of aggression that day, and I think my peers recognized the situation I was in, and that isn’t sustainable every week before you start getting it back in return.
“But when it comes to my preparation, I haven’t changed anything. I just think it took time to turn things around and we were able to do that. When you have a stretch of two months’ worth of races where you’re really happy with the car, then the results are way better.”
Berry’s turnaround coincided with an uptick in performance across the entire Team Penske and Penske-adjacent stable. Berry’s streak came at the same time that Joey Logano drove from outside of the Chase for the Championship to a top 10 seed by the end of the regular season.
For their part, Legacy Motor Club and team principal Jimmie Johnson say the decision to part with John Hunter Nemechek and hire Berry wasn’t just about this summer. After all, Berry has been crashing as much as Nemechek.
He says their speed had them qualifying near the back of the field but didn’t have enough pace to get out of it.
“For the most part, we weren’t fast enough to get ourselves out of it and were slow enough to be back there,” Berry said. “I feel like the DNFs are kind of a misleading statistic because it’s not something that is always under your control. It could be a mechanical failure, or a superspeedway incident. DNF doesn’t necessarily mean you caused it.
“A lot of what happened this year is we got swept up in things that were created by others’ situations. Anytime that TV pans the camera around to a car, it goes straight to the driver, and I feel like I was unfairly pinned for a lot of it.
“Ultimately, I am the one driving it, but I don’t think it was fair at times what I got blamed for, and once we start running better and get closer to the front, things started to turn around.”
What did he learn about his next team and their leadership vision during their interview?
“They wanted to have someone that fits into their culture,” Berry said. “They’ve had some bright spots over the past couple of years, and this year. There are still areas we will need to work in and improve upon, and I think they wanted to know if I could buy into that vision – working alongside Erik (Jones) and Riley (Herbst) and everyone they have on that side of it.
“Jimmie is very clear about his vision and what he wants this to become. They have made a lot of great hires to continue to build that up. This is a really solid opportunity. It’s going to be a challenge and it’s going to be hard but I’m excited.”
Watch: Race Rewind: Bell strikes late in Darlington Chase opener
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