Once certain drivers have established themselves in NASCAR's top series, they become a lot less afraid to voice their opinions.
Wood Brothers Racing's Josh Berry scored his first career Cup Series win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway earlier this season, and he finds himself in that category.
A hot debate has started to take shape, as the CARS Tour and ARCA Menards Series appear to be in the middle of a battle to see which is a better developmental series.
As NASCAR's top stars prepared to take on North Wilkesboro Speedway for the All-Star Race this past week, Berry wasn't afraid to talk about his past success in the CARS Tour and how he developed his racecraft on the small tracks along the East Coast.
There are many ways to make a name for yourself in racing and get to NASCAR. Berry took the CARS Tour route and got a real shot because of Dale Earnhardt Jr., not needing to race in the ARCA Menards Series.
Josh Berry delivers hot take on NASCAR driver development
Berry has clearly established himself in the Cup Series now. His five Xfinity Series wins don't hurt, either. He is clearly the face of the CARS Tour route to NASCAR.
Berry made his name racing at that level and developed into one of the smartest drivers NASCAR has seen. He was the 2017 champion in the Pro Late Model division, where he won 22 races. In doing so, team owner Dale Jr. was ready to start giving Berry his greatest opportunities moving forward.
By the 2021 season, Berry had quickly become a name heard around the Xfinity garage, as he quickly broke out for JR Motorsports. He scored his first Xfinity Series win at Las Vegas that year.
All along, Berry has shown his love for the CARS Tour, so when it was announced that the series was going to be shown on Fox Sports 1 as a part of the big North Wilkesboro weekend, he was thrilled.
Berry talked plenty about his experience in the CARS Tour during his media availability on Friday, before Cup Series qualifying and the CARS Tour's Window World 100.
"It's obviously really cool to get them on FS1."Josh Berry
His hopes were high, as were those of everyone looking to tune in. He also hopes there are more opportunities for the series to get on TV in the future. He isn't wrong, because you're honestly talking about the future of NASCAR.
CARS Tour versus ARCA Debate
It was also during that media availability when Berry offered quite a hot take.
"I watch ARCA races, and they're horrible. CARS Tour puts a way better product on to be on TV and they deserve a spot like that."Josh Berry
Not to mention, the CARS Tour tends to have more drivers run the entire schedule, while in ARCA, it can be hit or miss each week, and in many cases, the champion of the series may not even win a race. Andres Perez de Lara did just that in 2024.
This is not a slight against the ARCA Series, as you have to have that series for young drivers to get time behind the wheel on the big tracks of NASCAR, but are those drivers truthfully ready to move to the Truck Series after winning a championship without winning a race?
Meanwhile, you have drivers like Berry who didn't really need ARCA, or even the Truck Series, for that matter.
Developmental series appear broken
Berry's take caught plenty of heat from others who may have seen Friday's late model race and noticed the field unable to get through the first 15 laps or so without a massive pileup. Sure, that wasn't a great first showing for the CARS Tour on Fox Sports 1, but after that, the racing got interesting, and Landen Lewis really put on a show, winning the race.
So the simple answer is the fact that NASCAR's developmental series might be broken. It appears that CARS Tour co-owners and NASCAR personalities Kevin Harvick and Dale Jr. both share that feeling as well. Not to mention, they have long been questioning some drivers who belong on the race track.
Dale Jr. was on the Happy Harvick podcast prior to the North Wilkesboro weekend, and that was one of the topics they discussed. So maybe, just maybe, Josh Berry isn't crazy for his take on the ARCA series.