It was because of mistakes on the pit road that Josh Berry stumbled down the leaderboard in the previous Cup Series race in Richmond and settled for an 11th-place finish. Despite the looming frustration, he expressed immense confidence going into Martinsville on Sunday and hoped for a turnaround. But the pit road wasn’t done with him yet.
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Driving the iconic #4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang, Berry initially displayed good potential to finish among the leaders. He was a consistent presence in the day’s top ten for a long period and looked set to end there. However, issues on the pit road pushed him down the ladder forcing him to make peace with a lowly 25th place finish. Needless to say, crew chief Rodney Childers was left aghast at the way things unfolded.
He told tobychristie.com, “Yeah, we’ve had a really good car the last two weeks. Pit road has just been a complete disaster. We had a guy get hurt, and has been out the last two weeks. I don’t know if that is what kind of has everything off or what is going on. But we’ve been bringing good cars, and [Berry] has been doing a good job.” The crew member that Childers mentioned is tire carrier Jeremy Howard.
From the chief’s words, it seems likely that the #4 team is awaiting Howard’s return. Short tracks have been positive destinations for the team from when Kevin Harvick was behind the wheel. It is rather unfortunate that they haven’t been able to keep the ball rolling with Berry despite having the means to do so. What disturbs Childers the most is the very same aspect of “unfulfilled” potential.
“Not what the #4 car is about”: Childers expresses dissatisfaction with 2024 run
Being unable to close out good days on a positive note isn’t something that the #4 team does, Childers explained in his interview. “I mean these are the types of tracks we need to capitalize on,” he said. “This is what he’s good at. We’re learning and getting better every week, but throwing away possibilities of top-fives, that’s not what the 4 car is about. We definitely gotta get things better and get back on track.”
He continued to express his belief that the underwhelming performance of his pit crew was the only bump on the road and that fixing it would mean a world of difference in the results. Despite the seeming blame, he reiterated that it was not a people problem and that he had to fix a few other things. Regardless of the result, Berry and Childers can take peace in the fact that they had a really fast Ford on Sunday.
