Blake Harris confident Chase Elliott stand-in Josh Berry will do a good job substituting for Alex Bowman

NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Josh Berry, who drove Chase Elliott’s #9 car in five Cup Series races this season, is back to drive again for Hendrick Motorsports at Dover Motor Speedway on Sunday.

The 32-year-old has had the experience of replacing an HMS driver, but he still expects a period of adjustments. He is all set to substitute Alex Bowman, who is likely to miss at least 3-4 weeks while recovering from a fractured vertebra which he suffered on Tuesday during a sprint car race.

In a recent interview, Blake Harris, the crew chief of #48 HMS Chevrolet, said that he is optimistic about having Berry as a replacement going into Dover.

"Everyone on the No. 48 team is wishing Alex a speedy recovery and we hope to have him back as soon as he is healthy. With Josh this weekend, we are fortunate enough to have had him in the No. 9 car recently, so we kind of know what driver comfort items we needed, so we were able to get him in here and get him fit.”

He continued:

“We also got a simulator session in with him, so as far as preparation for this weekend goes, I feel like we are in as good of shape as we can be considering the time crunch we are in to get the car to Dover.”

NASCAR Cup Series GEICO 500

Harris further spoke about their preparations for this weekend’s race and said:

“I don’t think we could go to a track that is better suited for a ‘plug-and-play’ guy,” Harris said. “Our approach this weekend is just to take it one step at a time, no mistakes, and get Josh comfortable enough to get the No. 48 in contention.”

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Josh Berry had a great time driving Chase Elliott’s #9 Chevrolet in 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season

Josh Berry filled in for Chase Elliott in five NASCAR Cup Series races and impressed everyone with his driving skills. He earned a career-best finish in P2 at Richmond Raceway and a top-10 finish at Phoenix Raceway. During this period, he became the 26th different HMS driver to earn a top-five finish.

Josh Berry and Chase Elliott, the defending champion of the event, will be seen in action at Dover Motor Speedway, starting the race in 10th and 23rd place, respectively.