Josh Berry Pilots the 9 to a Podium Finish at Richmond

What’s Happening

Josh Berry, who is still subbing for Chase Elliott recovering from a broken leg, had quite a rollercoaster of a day in Richmond. Berry struggled early fighting a loose car on entry and exit after starting in P30 per the rulebook after qualifying was rained out.

The No. 9 Team made some adjustments to the NAPA Chevrolet that then made the car tight in the center. On lap 96 Josh Berry was bumped by an eager Ryan Blaney, who was battling back from a speeding penalty, and spun coming out of turn 4.

The No. 9 team reported no damage to the car, and they put four fresh tires back on, filled it up on fuel and sent Josh back out. Berry was resilient and slowly worked his way back through the field. Late race pit strategy got Josh and the No. 9 Napa Chevy up a few more places and a late race caution got him up to restart on the front row.

Berry restarted on the outside of Hendrick teammate Kyle Larson and was able to hang onto his first top 5 finish in the Cup Series.

• Josh Berry earns his first ever top 5 finish filling in for Chase Elliott, outperforming some of this year’s rookies.

• Doubters were questioning whether Josh should stay in the No. 9 car after a 29th-place finish at Las Vegas in Berry’s first start in a next gen car with no practice. Shortly after that he got his first top-10 finish at Phoenix.

• Josh has undoubtedly shown improvement the more Cup races he gets under his belt. Richmond was right in Josh’s wheelhouse, and he showed resilience from spinning to a runner up finish. The Napa team had excellent strategy calls and worked back through the field to get Berry up front.

The Main Characters

Regan Smith with FOX Sports caught up with Josh Berry to get his reaction on a 2nd-place finish.

Chase Elliott tweets out a congratulations to Josh and the NAPA Racing team on a podium finish.

The No. 9 Team tweets out Josh’s second place finish after a rocky Richmond Raceday.

NAPA Racing tweets out a congratulations to the whole No. 9 team on a runner up finish.

Around The Garage

Dale Earnhardt Jr. sends his acknowledgement to the No. 9 crew and their performance today in Richmond getting Josh up to the front.

Xfinity Series driver Kyle Weatherman sends his congratulations to Josh Berry, Kyle Larson, and Hendrick Motorsports on the 1-2 finish.

In The Stands

Many fans are congratulating Josh Berry on a P2 finish subbing in for Chase Elliott and expecting to see great things from the Grass Roots driver.

Jeffro.VT wants to see Dale Jr. get a Cup Charter and put Josh Berry in his car.

On Your Screen

Out of the Groove host, Eric Estepp, shares his first thoughts about the finish of the 2023 Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond.

Host of Black Flags Matter, Darian Gilliam, shares a stat on Josh Berry’s Cup career.

In Your Ear

Chase Holden of the Garage Guys Podcast gives a shoutout to Josh’s P2 finish at Richmond and is seeing the talent that Berry has to adapt and improve.

Dale Tanhardt of Garage Guys is going to go cash in on a deal that Josh’s finish provided at Hooter’s on a sponsorship deal with the No. 9 Team.

From The Pressbox

NASCAR beat reporter, Chris Knight, shared some comments that Jeff Gordon made about Josh Berry after his P2 finish today at Richmond.

Peter Stratta with ABC45TV got to chat with Josh Berry after the race to get his reaction and got interrupted by 4-time Cup Champion Jeff Gordon to congratulate Josh.

Digital Communications Architect, Chase Wilhelm, had an opportunity to work with Josh through his sponsorship Tire Pros, and offered some kind things to say about Josh’s character around people.

Digital Content Editor, Dustin Albino, was able to get audio from Josh’s in-car radio on thanking the No. 9 team on some amazing strategy calls.