Josh Berry: From Short-Tracker To Cup Series Mainstay

MOORESVILLE, N.C. – The announcement of Josh Berry’s contract with Wood Brothers Racing for next year took a load of uncertainty off the shoulders of one of the NASCAR Cup Series’ rising stars.

Berry, who rose to stardom with JR Motorsports through that team’s vaunted late model stock car program before racing in the Xfinity Series with them, found an avenue to the Cup Series over the winter when he came under the Ford Performance umbrella by joining Stewart-Haas Racing.

When SHR announced its impending closure in June, however, it left Berry in a precarious position just months after believing he’d found a long-term home at NASCAR’s top level.

Enter Len, Eddie, and Jon Wood and the team that has been competing in the sport since 1953.

Just like that, Berry went from rookie with a top ride, to rookie looking for a future ride, to soon-to-be mainstay Cup Series driver with a home for the next several years.

It was a wild sequence of events, but the 33-year-old from Hendersonville, Tenn., admitted Wednesday that his recent changes have felt similar to everything he’s gone through in racing over the last decade, as he’s scratched and clawed to make a name for himself behind the wheel.

“I think I’ve been through this for a decade,” said Berry of the suspense that surrounded him in the past month. “From late model racing all the way up to this change … the message has always been to go out on the track and perform the best we can. I had a conversation with Dale [Earnhardt] Jr. last year when I was [subbing for Chase Elliott] at Hendrick Motorsports. He called me almost every week and talked me through all of my emotions and what I was dealing with at that time, and said, ‘Man, you’re at your best when your back is up against the wall, and you have to go out and perform. That’s what makes you, you.’

“I thought back to that this year with everything going on and Stewart-Haas going away, that it really just provided us an opportunity to go out and perform. That was the only option, really,” Berry continued. “The emotions of it, yeah, it’s difficult sometimes, but we’ve raced together and always focused on performing, whether we’re at Hickory or Martinsville or Charlotte. That’s ultimately what my character is and what I bring to a race team, is being able to keep these opportunities and get these opportunities because that’s what got me here in addition to performing on the racetrack.

“The main focus all the time has been to do everything we could to embody that [focus], and I think over the last couple of months we’ve done a good job of that.”

Berry has had his struggles during his Sunoco rookie campaign in the Cup Series, but he’s begun to find a groove at the perfect time. Four top-10 finishes in the past seven races, highlighted by a pair of podiums at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway and New Hampshire Motor Speedway, have put him into playoff contention.

The Volunteer State driver sits inside the top 20 in points. Though he’s 131 markers behind the cut line, Berry is now being talked about as a driver who could win his way into NASCAR’s postseason, or at the very least could pick up a victory in general before the season is out.

That’s something he wants to do as well: leave Stewart-Haas Racing in November at the top of his game.

“I feel like we can continue what we’ve done lately,” said Berry of his current performance in the No. 4 Ford with crew chief Rodney Childers. “We have a great group over there and they’re all really motivated to continue to get better, like we have throughout the season. It’s going to get harder and harder as we probably lose some people here or there … and the distractions get more, but all in all, we have a great group. Our cars have been running well and I see no reason to think that the wheels are going to fall off the wagon, so to speak.

“I’m going to do everything I can to keep that deal going as strong as we can week in and week out, because I owe it to those guys for the opportunity that they gave me and for how they believed in me, and I’m fully committed to continuing to battle all the way to Phoenix.”

With his move to the Wood Brothers team next year, Berry will go from racing for one NASCAR Hall of Fame owner in Tony Stewart to a team now led by the second and third generations of team co-founders and Hall of Famers Glen and Leonard Wood.

Berry recognizes the pressure that comes from racing for high-profile names in motorsports, but equally appreciates the history he’ll have a chance to make with one of NASCAR’s ‘First Families’.

“First and foremost, just the history, the heritage, and the family atmosphere that the Wood Brothers provide all feel like a great fit for me,” he explained. “I feel like I fit their brand and who they are with how I’ve gotten here and how they’ve gotten here. I feel like this is a great fit.

“I’ve really enjoyed my relationship with Ford and to continue that was something that was important to me, and I appreciate and am thankful to have that opportunity as well,” he added. “It just really means a lot to drive an iconic car like the [No.] 21. I feel like it’s a great opportunity for me, I feel ready to provide results, and I think that, all in all, it’s going to be a great relationship.”

Berry has transformed from a good ol’ Southeastern short track ace to, now, having the keys to one of the most recognizable seats in the NASCAR garage area at his fingertips.

From his CARS Tour late model success, to winning a NASCAR Weekly Series national championship for JR Motorsports, to his breakthrough runs in NASCAR’s top two national series, the last decade has created a storybook rise for a driver who once raced on a computer and only had dreams of taking his talents to racetracks across the country on a regular basis.

It’s a journey Berry says he wouldn’t trade, even if it has had its hurdles along the way.

“Four years ago, I was racing late models, building late models, driving my truck and trailer to the racetrack, and racing with my buddies and winning all over the southeast,” he recalled. “Getting an opportunity to go drive in the Xfinity Series and now the Cup Series has been amazing, and I’m still really grateful to be here and have this opportunity at all.

“If I think back to who I was five years ago … to tell that person that I would be sitting here with Len and Eddie Wood and Jon and getting ready to go drive the [No.] 21 car, I can promise you I wouldn’t believe it, just like I wouldn’t have believed that I was replacing Kevin Harvick at the end of last year,” he added, flashing a smile to the room.

“At this point I feel like anything is possible, and I’m thankful that it’s all worked out so far.”