Winning this race at South Boston allows you to get yourself ahead of everybody else. The Virginia Late Model Triple Crown also means a lot. “The Fourth of July race at South Boston Speedway is one of the most prestigious races in Late Model Stock racing. “It would be the biggest win of my career,” Langley remarked. More fun for the young Zebulon, North Carolina resident would be winning the $10,000 first prize in the Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200 presented by Grand Atlantic Ocean Resort on Saturday, July 1 at South Boston Speedway, and capturing the opening race of the Virginia Late Model Triple Crown. He scored his first career win in Late Model Stock Car Division racing in the season-opener, has won six of his 12 starts, and trails six-time South Boston Speedway NASCAR track champion Peyton Sellers by just five points in South Boston Speedway’s Sentara Health Late Model Stock Car Division point standings. Even without knowing where it would ultimately take me, I’d do it all over again.The way 18-year-old Carter Langley sees it “if you have fun, you’re winning in the first place.” Langley’s philosophy of having fun in racing is paying big dividends this season at South Boston Speedway. “Those years of racing and winning, and the people I was around and worked with, prepared me for the opportunities that I’ve gotten, and they’ve prepared me to capitalize on this opportunity with Stewart-Haas Racing. ![]() ![]() If that doesn’t happen, I don’t know that I would’ve ever raced a stock car, or how much more I would’ve raced at all, just because racing overextended us financially,” Berry continued. “The timing of Dale and I getting together, that was crucial. Throughout my teenage years, it was a fight just to keep racing, to get to the next race. I wouldn’t change anything about how I got here. It’s also been about preparation meeting opportunity. “I’m really proud of how I’ve gotten to this point and earned this opportunity,” Berry said. Cup seats these days go to very young drivers, and the rookie candidates typically are in their early 20s. Berry is content with how long the path has taken him, even though he’ll most certainly be the oldest candidate in next year’s Cup rookie class. His worth has skyrocketed and Berry becomes a big addition to Ford, who lures a wanted commodity out of the Chevrolet camp. It’s hard to describe the emotion, but it was incredible,” Earnhardt said of the moment that finally put Berry on the national radar. Go out there and you have to make it happen,” and Berry won at Martinsville in his 13th career start. Earnhardt gave Berry a job in the parts department at JR Motorsports and a chance to prove himself on the short track scene.Įarnhardt noted that Berry driving for his Late Model program won “over a hundred feature races and multiple track championships and the national title.” Earnhardt found a way to get Berry some Xfinity Series starts “that was basically like, ‘Hey, here’s like a very meager chance to show what you can do. 4 team and our organization.”īerry was unsure the right time would ever happen for him, especially as a 19-year-old discovered by Earnhardt Jr., who offered Berry a late model test and persuaded him to move to North Carolina. “He is the right driver, at the right time, for the No. “Kevin Harvick has obviously set a very high bar, but Josh brings maturity, experience and, above all, a winning record to Stewart-Haas Racing,” said Stewart, who co-owns SHR with Gene Haas. In his Cup Series starts as a substitute with Hendrick, Berry impressed the Hendrick group even before his second-place finish at Richmond as Elliott’s early season fill-in. Berry has one full season of Xfinity Series racing, but he’s parlayed an initial partial season with JR Motorsports into a full-time job with five victories in 76 career starts. “Whereas it’s incredible and a great opportunity to sign a young driver that will develop into a champion, I believe you get to skip those years of development with a guy like Josh, and you get right into working on the championship part and winning races because he’s there mentally, professionally and in talent.”īerry takes over as driver for a Rodney Childers-led group that won 37 races with Harvick including the 2014 Cup title. ![]() “What a team will get when they sign Josh Berry to a Cup deal is a driver with great race craft and a turn-key winner,” said Earnhardt, who developed Berry and last year got him into a full-time Xfinity Series ride. ![]() In comes Berry, who may be light on NASCAR national-level racing experience, but he’s a veteran who has clawed his way into Harvick’s seat and may wind up filling a massive void at SHR.
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