NASCAR CUP SERIES: USA TODAY 301

June 23, 2024

Josh Berry

Victory Lane Interview

Q. Under the red flag, 20th. Ultimately finished third. I know you wanted more, though, out of that restart, the overtime restart. Take me through it. What could you have done differently now that you look back at it?

JOSH BERRY: Yeah, we were debating back and forth on bottom or top. I really wanted to take the front row, but it was just -- it just seemed slick down there, right, and I just felt like I would be stuck racing probably Chase, who would have been on the outside. Kind of like we ended up.

Honestly, I think I probably just -- I really pushed Christopher out there really hard, and I think that kind of checked my momentum. Then I just got a little loose off of two and got Chase back to my left rear. He kind of drug me back, and we got stuck racing and had to drag race there to the line.

Yeah, it's like I said earlier, right, the rain was a new opportunity for us, and we capitalized. The car was really, really good that second half. I mean, we cut right up through there. Just started out the day really strong and ended it strong too.

Q. That rain offered the opportunity for some more time on the wet weather tires. What's your confidence level now that you have seen a lot of racing on them?

JOSH BERRY: Yeah, I think it works well. It's definitely a challenge. It's intense, but it's so much fun. I find myself riding around under caution just trying to figure out where the grip is at, what pavement has grip, whether the paint has grip, doesn't have paint. Then you see us running through the water on the front stretch. I have never done anything like that in my life, but, man, it was so much fun.

Our car was really strong. That helps. It's not just us driving in the rain. It takes the adjustments and the air pressures and everything it takes to make it go on the rain tires. Rodney did a great job. Everyone on the 4 team has done a great job.

Like I said, we were strong to start the race, come back at the end, and got a third place finish. Really solid day. A lot to be proud of. I want to thank Miner and Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford Performance, everybody on this Ford team. We're going to keep digging.