LUCAMA, NC — Josh Berry won three races in four CARS Tour appearances last season and is one driver who will certainly be a contender for the championship in 2016.
Berry finished third in Sunday’s race at Southern National Motorsports Park, a track he’s never really liked despite scoring a win there a couple years ago. He spent much of his race in the second position, behind eventual race winner Deac McCaskill, before Tommy Lemons, Jr. got passed him for the win.
“It’s a good day for us,” Berry stated. “Typically, we’ve struggled here in the past and that was the best we’ve been here by far. We were just a little bit too loose and, I tried to keep it under me there. I made that last run at Deac there with about 10 to go and that was all I had. We’re missing a little bit but, overall, a good day for us and we’ve got something to build on when we come back here in a couple months.”
Berry has reason to be confident with his chances in the CARS Tour with the next couple of races on the horizon.
Orange County Speedway, where the JR Motorsports driver won a CARS Tour race last summer, is next on the schedule and Hickory Motor Speedway, where he won a track championship in 2014 and won a CARS Tour race last Halloween, will follow the Orange County race.
“We’re looking forward to Orange County,” Berry remarked. “We won there twice last year so I feel like we’ll be a good car out there. I have won [at Southern National] before but we just missed it a little bit. We’ll make it better for next time and maybe we’ll be able to beat the 08 car.”
Sunday’s third place finish continues a strong start to the season for Berry. In only three starts this season, Berry has a win at Hickory Motor Speedway and two third place finishes on the season, including his finish on Sunday.
“You always wish you had more wins but this is only my third race,” Berry explained. We’ve got plenty of time. We knew today that this wasn’t a great track for us so we came out with a good finish and a lot to build on.”
