Kelley Earnhardt Miller, co-owner of JR Motorsports and sister of NASCAR icon Dale Earnhardt Jr., unleashed a flood of emotion after Josh Berry’s breakthrough Cup Series win. Her jubilant tweet after Berry’s Las Vegas win captured the gravity of a victory 15 years in the making.
Berry, who met Dale Jr. in 2008 on “DMP Online Racing,” an online sim racing league, delivered Wood Brothers Racing a playoff-clinching win. The triumph at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 16 wasn’t just a career milestone but a full-circle moment for a driver molded by the Earnhardt family’s belief.
Kelley Earnhardt Miller’s Unfiltered Pride in Josh Berry’s Breakthrough
The Earnhardt name carries weight in NASCAR, and Kelley’s public endorsement resonated deeply. As JRM’s strategic backbone, she’s witnessed countless victories, but Berry’s felt personal. Her social media message mirrored the raw enthusiasm of a family that’s long championed underdogs.
Heck ya @joshberry @woodbrothers21! Who can’t love that! 🏁🏁🏁
— Kelley Earnhardt (@EarnhardtKelley) March 16, 2025
Kelley’s leadership at JRM helped Berry transition from a sim-racing enthusiast to a late-model prospect in 2010. Her influence extends beyond spreadsheets; she once reflected on grief after her father’s death, stating, “I didn’t go through the emotion of running down the racetrack like my brother.”
Berry’s win, though, brought unbridled joy, a stark contrast to past sorrow.
The victory also silenced skeptics. Berry’s rocky 2024 rookie season with Stewart-Haas Racing ended with the team’s closure. His rebound with Wood Brothers, a fourth-place finish at Phoenix preceding the Vegas win, proved resilience.
“I don’t know if we were the best car, but we were really solid,” Berry said. For Kelley, it validated a gamble taken years earlier.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Berry’s Sim Racing Roots
Berry’s path to Las Vegas began not on asphalt but online. A 2008 sim-racing league connected him to Dale Jr., who spotted raw talent beneath the digital laps.
“I got to know Dale on there, just kind of as friends,” Berry recalled. That virtual bond became real when Earnhardt invited him to test a late-model car at Motor Mile Speedway in Fairlawn, Va., in 2010.
The rest is NASCAR lore. Berry climbed through JRM’s ranks, winning 24 Weekly Series races in 2020 and filling in for Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman amid their 2023 injuries. His Cup debut with Stewart-Haas faltered, but Earnhardt’s faith never wavered. After the Vegas win, Berry FaceTimed his mentor from Victory Lane. “He was jacked up,” Berry said.
But the story isn’t just about Berry. It’s about the Earnhardts’ legacy of nurturing talents. Dale Jr. once called Berry “a big part” of JRM’s development. Kelley’s tweet wasn’t a mere celebration but an acknowledgment of a shared journey.
Meanwhile, Berry’s refusal to do a post-race burnout spoke volumes. “I’ve spent my whole life working on my own race cars, building race cars, got my a** chewed a couple times for doing burnouts when I shouldn’t and tore stuff up,” he said, echoing Dale Jr.’s no-nonsense ethos.
The nod to his mentor’s 2014 Daytona 500 celebration, a subdued wave over fiery theatrics, cemented their kindred spirits.