Dale Earnhardt Jr. feels for his buddy and longtime collaborator, Josh Berry, amidst a catastrophe season within the NASCAR Cup Sequence that seemingly has no viable aggressive future after his impending dismissal from Wooden Brothers Racing.
Most just lately, Berry was crashed whereas racing Christopher Bell for twenty fifth, however solely as a result of the latter broke traction beneath him. Berry lamented all of the issues that nobody sees behind the scenes that’s liable for a season wherein he sits thirty third within the standings.
Wooden Brothers Racing introduced final month that Berry’s possibility wouldn’t be picked up for the 2027 season, being changed by reigning O’Reilly Sequence champion Jesse Love, regardless of profitable a race at Las Vegas final yr.
“Yeah, man it’s terrible,” stated Earnhardt on his Dale Jr. Obtain podcast. “Josh was working good too. Drove as much as like thirteenth. Nobody will ever give a shit that they have been truly working fairly good. You’ll simply see that. They’ll simply see the statistics.”
Earnhardt is liable for discovering Berry. They solid a friendship on iRacing whereas Berry was racing Legend vehicles and 4 cylinders at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway. Earnhardt employed Berry to drive his Late Mannequin Shares for the higher a part of a decade the place they have been broadly profitable.
They gained monitor championships at Hickory and Motor Mile plus a CARS Tour and NASCAR Weekly Sequence championship respectively. Earnhardt lastly was in a position to get a O’Reilly Sequence season funded for him the place he turned a championship menace after which Cup Sequence contender with Stewart-Haas Racing and Wooden Brothers.
“We acquired him racing. He raced with us for 10 years,” Earnhardt stated. “We gained a whole bunch of races, monitor championships, nationwide championships. We gained O’Reilly races. And we did every part we might to provide him every part we might give him. And he was offered this chance to race at Haas following (Kevin) Harvick into the 4 automotive at Harvick’s retirement. There was this huge announcement. I imply, it was emotional. It was cool.
“And he finally ends up profitable his first race for the Wooden Brothers. I’m listening to that Penske was very excessive on Josh. Blaney and all the blokes have been saying that he was nice as a teammate and an enormous addition to the operation. That they had this actually stable first yr. He wins a race at Vegas, qualifies, runs effectively at a number of totally different racetracks. And it seemed like issues are going to be optimistic. And I don’t know, I have no idea what has occurred.
“I actually don’t know what’s occurred. I don’t bug Josh an excessive amount of about it, I don’t hassle. I feel the world of the Wooden Brothers, I feel the world of them. I idolize Leonard and them.”
Berry doesn’t convey a lot private funding and wishes somebody to rent him on benefit as a Cup Sequence race winner. Earnhardt simply doesn’t know the place that experience at the moment exists throughout the nationwide touring panorama.
“I don’t know what has occurred, but it surely’s unlucky as a result of I don’t know the place this goes for Josh,” Earnhardt stated. “I don’t, and the panorama proper now’s crappy for guys like him.
“I don’t know what alternatives even exist. Choose a collection, Truck, O’Reilly, or Cup. The place is there a automotive or a truck that’s on the lookout for a driver? I don’t know. It’s only a dangerous time.”
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