"Racing for my career again": Josh Berry faces uncertain future after SHR closure

Josh Berry, in his rookie NASCAR Cup Series year, is on the hunt for a new home after Stewart-Haas Racing announced that they would close shop at the end of the 2024 season. Berry secured his spot in #4 Ford for SHR after replacing the former Cup Series champion, Kevin Harvick, who retired last season.

Berry made his name in the Xfinity Series, piloting the #8 Chevy as a full-time driver for JR Motorsports. He also drove for Hendrick Motorsports as a substitute driver for Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman in 2023. After NASCAR veteran Kevin Harvick's retirement last year, SHR signed Berry as a full-time driver in the Cup Series for the 2024 season.

In a recent conversation with the media, the 33-year-old talked about his uncertain future after SHR closure and racing for a spot not just in the playoffs but for the upcoming Cup Series season.

"I think, still have a lot to prove and obviously I’m racing for my career again, like I’ve done countless times," Berry said (via Motorsports).

The Tennessee native currently has the 2014 Cup Series winner crew chief on his team. He believes that the #4 team and his crew chief, Rodney Childers, have a strong team and deserve to be in NASCAR's top-tier division.

"We have a great leader in Rodney," Berry said. "I think being a rookie in the series is really hard, and I think I’ve answered the call on that. I’m proud of the job that I’ve done. I’m proud of the job that I did at (Hendrick Motorsports in 2023). I feel like that I’m deserving of being here. I think if we keep doing that, we’ll find another opportunity."

"All of us want to race with him (Rodney Childers). We want to race with each other. They’ve completely, I feel like, bought into me and made me more confident than I’ve ever been. … I think we still have a lot of good days ahead of us," he added.

In May, Tony Stewart and Gene Haas, co-owners of SHR, announced that they would shut their operations. This has left the four drivers of SHR - Chase Briscoe, Noah Gragson, Josh Berry, and Ryan Preece in limbo for the 2025 season.

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Rodney Childers wants to "raise" Josh Berry's stock amid No. 4 SHR driver's uncertain future

Stewart-Haas Racing Crew Chief Rodney Childers talked about an optimistic approach for the #4 Josh Berry for the remaining 2024 Cup Series season.

Childers, who won the 2014 Cup Series championship with former SHR driver Kevin Harvick, has now made Berry his "priority" to win a Cup Series race in the 2024 season.

In an episode of Dirty Mo Media, Childers said (at 4:06):

"What we're excited about right now is to get him (Josh Berry) in Victory Lane to raise his stock to make sure that he has a ride for next year."

"I said at the beginning of the year, you know Josh Berry is not going to fail on my watch and I still mean that. Like it’s important to me that he races next year and he’s not a one-year wonder and he’s extremely good and he deserves to be in the Cup Series; and that’s our priority the rest of the year," he added.

As NASCAR heads towards the Sonoma Raceway for the Toyota/Save Mart 350, #4 Berry sits P20 in the overall points table. He has one top-five and two top-tens so far.