Denny Hamlin gives props to Josh Berry, Rodney Childers for P3 finish at Darlington

Josh Berry is starting to figure it out in his first full-time season in the NASCAR Cup Series.

Coming off three consecutive finishes in the top-16, Berry tallied a season best P3 finish in Sunday’s Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway. It’s Berry’s second-best finish in the Cup Series, as he finished P2 at Richmond last year filling-in for the injured Chase Elliott.

Speaking on his “Actions Detrimental” podcast, Denny Hamlin gave Berry and crew chief Rodney Childers praise for having a quality run at “The Lady in Black.”

“This is just proving — now, they’re not doing it every week. They’re not always the flagship team every week like they were before, but it’s obviously showing the strength of Rodney Childers, that whole 4 team with how good they are at developing Josh and he legit ran there. He was very, very fast and so you gotta give them props as well for their performance. Started towards the back and just chipped away all the way up to the top 3. Some of that happens in the pits and then Josh continues to drive forward. And so, it looked like his car was pretty strong in the long runs and that’s where he made his passes and bread and butter.

“Generally speaking, you got tracks like Richmond and here where Josh is starting to show the glimmer of speed that he needs to compete in the Cup Series. I think Rodney is a factor in that having so much experience with someone like Kevin Harvick that he can help mentor Josh into this and be the driver that he is right now in his rookie season.”

Josh Berry seeing better results as weeks go by in rookie season

Berry, 33, in his first season with Stewart-Haas Racing, is replacing a future NASCAR Hall of Famer in Harvick behind the wheel of the No. 4 Ford. While big shoes to fill, inheriting one of the sport’s best crew chiefs in Childers has been a benefit to him. If Sunday’s run at Darlington was any indication, Berry just could be the driver to lift Stewart-Haas into victory lane for the first time since the 2022 season.

“It was just a really good day,” Berry said after the race, via John Newby of NBC Sports. “We had a really good car yesterday in practice, but unfortunately didn’t qualify like we should have. There’s a lot to take from that, but, overall, the car was really strong. We feel like we’re capable of days like this. We just have to keep chipping away at it, keep learning, keep getting better week in and week out. I have a great group around me, and this is a finish they deserve for sure.”