MOORESVILLE, NC :: Josh Berry capped off a dominant season with a track championship title at Hickory Motor Speedway on Saturday night.  Berry’s championship, and a championship in the Paramount KIA Big 10 Challenge, was the feather in the cap to an eight win regular season.  Now, Berry’s looking ahead to Martinsville and at potential NASCAR opportunities.

The two combined championships are added next to the 2012 track championship at Motor Mile Speedway on the JR Motorsports driver’s résumé.  For Berry, winning the championship at Hickory means a lot because of the history at the North Carolina bullring and the level of competition he raced against in 2014.

“Hickory’s a place with a lot of history and it’s a tough place to get around,” Berry said.  “It’s a worn out bumpy track and there’s good competition like Dillon Bassett and a couple other people.  It was a fun season for us to be running there. We weren’t sure if we were running for points or not but it worked out, we had success and we stuck with it.”

Berry also won the “Big 10 Challenge” title, something he felt was equally as important.

“To me, that was equally as big a deal.  If you look at the car counts for those race, it was over 20-25 each of those races, so that was a tough deal and a lot of good cars.  The national championship hero [Anthony Anders] was there, Dillon Bassett, Travis Swaim and a bunch of people showed up to run those races.  Being competitive in those races was very important to us so it was cool to win that deal. Me and Dillon were neck and neck the whole time and he had an engine failure and that helped us but either way I think we could’ve won it.  It was fun racing with him.”

Berry also picked up the win in the track’s biggest race of the season, the Bobby Isaac Memorial.  Berry’s eight wins consist of seven wins at Hickory, including the Bobby Isaac Memorial, and one win at Southern National Motorsports Park.

Now, Berry’s turning his attention to Martinsville for the 2014 installment of the Martinsville DuPont Credit Union (MDCU) 300.  Berry is optimistic about his chances to win and feels he has a good enough car to win.

“I feel good about it,” Berry explained.  “I feel like we’re more prepared this year than any with our program.  I feel like we’ll be a contender.  I really do.  I think we’ve got better this year and we can apply that.  I’m excited to get there and see what it brings.  The race itself is so tough and what it brings.  I haven’t finished one yet so that’s a goal but I think we’ll be a contender and have a good car.”

Berry is also planning on running in the Fall Brawl at Hickory Motor Speedway and, if his car survives Martinsville and Hickory, the Myrtle Beach 400.  He’s also finalizing plans to make his second career NASCAR Nationwide Series start, possibly in November.

As for next year, Berry hopes his schedule will consist of a mix of Late Model Stock Car races as well as an expanded schedule in the NASCAR Xfinity Series (which is currently called the NASCAR Nationwide Series).

“The Late Model stuff is going to be there but I’m hoping to get in more Nationwide (Xfinity) races next year.  We’re kind of wait and see.  Hopefully, the end of the year opens the door to run that series more.  I don’t really know yet.  I hope it’s a little bit of both.”

Berry has emerged as one of Late Model Stock Car racing’s more elite drivers.  Now, Berry’s hoping to add a grandfather clock in his living room and ink his name in history.