Berry started this year with a lot of changes. It’s his first time racing full-time in the Cup series, and he joined Stewart-Haas Racing, driving their No. 4 car. Plus, Ford Performance introduced a new version of their ‘Dark Horse’ Mustang.
With all these changes, plus a few mistakes on the track and in the pits, Berry’s had a tough start with the No. 4 team.
“We feel good about where we’re at,” said Berry. “We’ve been running better than we’ve been finishing. The data showed that for us, so we just have to keep plugging along and the results will come.”
Berry has shown he can do well at this level. He won five races in three seasons in the Xfinity Series and had some good finishes in the Cup series last year when he filled in for Hendrick Motorsports.
This year, Berry’s best results have been on the shorter tracks like Bristol and Richmond, where he finished 12th and 11th. But overall, he’s still 28th in the series standings, and he’s had some bad luck with crashes at Atlanta and Texas.
Even though no Ford drivers have won yet this season, Berry doesn’t think it’s because of the new car body.
“I feel like when we’ve had our car driving like we want, we’ve had speed,” Berry said. “We had an accident, but we were knocking on the door of getting up into the top 10.”
“It’s just hard to win at this level,” he added. “I don’t think, for me, I’m not necessarily panicked. I think that we’re going to continue to get better on the No. 4 team. I feel like if we keep doing the right things we’ll keep running better.”
At Talladega last Sunday, a few Ford drivers had a chance to win, but a mistake on the last lap cost them. Berry said Ford is always working to make improvements based on data from the car and engine.
“There are a lot of things that go into it that we know are areas we can improve on, and you keep doing that,” he said. “I think we’ll be fine. It’s just going to take a little time.”
