Years after the fact, drivers that win a NASCAR Cup Series race will frequently tell you they wish they had been more present in the moment so they could remember it with better detail.
Josh Berry does not want this moment to be easily lost to time.
His victory celebration included a slow drive backwards around the track and a subdued burnout only after his frontstretch celebration. Berry climbed out of his car and didn’t immediately go into shouting or jumping into the arms of his crews.
Berry just sat on the roof of the Wood Brothers No. 21 and said ‘can you believe it,’ reflective of a career that was still in Late Models five years ago when he was 29-years-old and looked like a short track lifer.
So yeah, a combination of his age and maturity definitely reminded him to soak up the moment as much as he could on Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
“Honestly, yeah,” Berry said. “I think it kind of even goes back to our celebration and the Polish Victory Lap and the run down the frontstretch and the time spent there. That’s the biggest thing I was trying to accomplish there was to collect my emotions the most I could and soak up that moment and enjoy it.”
Berry certainly hasn’t had time to slow down and reflect in the days since. He did a media tour on Monday, which included stops on both the Dale Jr Download and Happy Hour YouTube shows. The Team Penske and Wood Brothers joint competition meeting was on Monday too.
On Thursday, Berry and his ownership group was at Ford Performance headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan to unveil a throwback paint scheme for Darlington in May.
“I felt like it’s been a busy week without a doubt,” Berry said. “But we’ve had a lot of opportunities, we’ve had great conversations with a lot of people in the industry to reflect on my journey here and what this moment really means.”
There is only one element of this that Berry would have changed.
“Aside from wishing my daughters were there, I think that’s probably the one thing that I hate out of the whole deal, I guess, is that they weren’t there,” Berry said. “McKenzie told me, which is my oldest daughter, she’s like, ‘Well, you’ve got to do it again because I’ve got to be there.’
“So, I guess that’s the plan. When you ask what’s next, we’ve got to go out and do it again because she wants to go to Victory Lane and be a part of that, so, I don’t know. It’s hard to say, but this is a big deal.”
Berry said he got a text from former teammate and friend Chase Briscoe.
“He’s like, ‘Hey, winning a Cup race is a pretty big deal, isn’t it,’ and it really is,” Berry said. “And doing it with these guys just makes it that much more special. They deserve every bit of success that they get and we’re going to keep working hard to keep having more days like Sunday.”
