A New York, N.Y. native, Berardi had been with the Hendrick organization since 2001, working with the #24 team and driver Jeff Gordon for the bulk of his time with the multi-team organization. With a degree in mechanical engineering, Berardi's start in racing began as an interest in which he learned how to apply his engineering background.

In an effort to improve his "car knowledge," Berardi enrolled in the Jim Russell Racing School, which happened to be located in Sonoma, Calif. near the Infineon Raceway where the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series competes on a yearly basis.

"I went to school during the day, learned some stuff and did some driving," Berardi explained. "School was out by 6 or 7 p.m., and we only raced once a month so I worked at a shop that built vintage Cup cars and Busch Series cars. There were a lot of open-wheel cars and F-1 cars, so I got to work on a lot of different stuff."

"I knew I wanted to get in on the race engineering, but I didn't want to do it without having worked on the cars. Now I have that experience and it helps me know a little bit more what I'm talking about," he added.

After a year, Berardi traveled to North Carolina to visit a friend, not really looking for a job in NASCAR. His interests were more in Indianapolis, where many open-wheel teams are located. When he started looking around at the race shops in Charlotte, N.C., however, he changed his tune.

"I was blown away by the engineering that (NASCAR teams) do here," Berardi said. "You wouldn't think of it from the outside looking in, but it is so much greater than a lot of other series."

After visiting a couple teams and interviewing for engineer positions, Berardi was offered jobs at both Hendrick Motorsports with the #24 team and at Richard Childress Racing for what was then the #3 team and late driver Dale Earnhardt. For future growth, Berardi felt that the Hendrick offer was the best option. During his first season, Berardi worked on data systems and car setups with the #24 team. It was also the year Gordon picked up his fourth NASCAR championship.

It was a combination of changes at Hendrick Motorsports and the offer to do something new that prompted Berardi to accept the offer at RYR in December 2005. Hired as the engineering manager, Berardi has been charged with the task of rebuilding the engineering department for RYR.

"The opportunity for me was great because they are letting me build it myself," he explained. "The biggest thing for bringing people in is to make sure the team saw a value in the engineering staff. I've been looking for race engineers that have obvious tangible value, because this is a situation where they perhaps hadn't had the best results from engineers in the past."

Travis Geisler was one of Berardi's first hires. He explained that Geisler, having been a racer and understanding the engineering aspect of the sport, played a key role in the decision. Bobby Turner was the next hire, and is also a fellow Hendrick Motorsports alum. Turner is the Pi information system expert.

Falling under the arm of the engineering department is the IT department and shock department. As a result, Berardi plans to add an IT person, an individual to oversee and provide guidance to the shock department, a vehicle dynamic specialist, and a traveling engineer for the #88 UPS Team.

"I want the strongest people possible and my goal is to hire guys that are smarter than me," Berardi said. "I'm not afraid to hire people that are smarter than me. I want them all to want my job. If they don't want that then I see it as a fundamental problem for somebody who doesn't want to move forward. They get too comfortable with what they're doing. I want people who know what they really want and have a vision in place."