Josh Berry ‘not surprised’ but optimistic’ for future after losing Wood Brothers seat

The Wood Brothers informed Josh Berry that they would be moving in a different direction at the end of this season, meaning the winner of the Las Vegas spring race last season joins a crowded list of impending free agents.

The 35-year-old, and long-time short tracker turned NASCAR success story over this decade, has competed in the Cup Series since 2024 following a four-year stint in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series with JR Motorsports.

Before taking over the famed No. 21, Berry replaced Kevin Harvick in the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4. Berry is also represented by Harvick’s sports agency.

“The Wood Brothers piece, I’ll just go ahead and put it out there that I will not be back in the 21 car next year,” Berry said during a Tuesday Ford Performance conference call. “I’m obviously disappointed about that. They’ve been amazing to work with. They’re amazing people and it’s been such a great opportunity. Obviously, going to Victory Lane for the first time and winning your first race with them will always be really special, but I’m not going to be back in the 21 next year.

“I’m going to hit the ground running and working hard to try to find out what’s out there and I’m certainly open and optimistic about any opportunities that come my way. But, first and foremost, we’re going to do our best to finish this season strong and leave in a good place.”

Berry won his way into the Cup Series playoffs last year, and showed a lot of speed in that first round but was undone by extreme misfortune. He was 21st in the regular season standings before the reset.

Meanwhile, this season has been a struggle for everyone at Team Penske, which supplies equipment for the Wood Brothers, with the exception of Ryan Blaney. Berry is 30th in the championship standings with only two top-10s at Daytona and Martinsville.

“I still feel like I’m the same guy that won Las Vegas,” Berry said. “I’m still the same guy that nearly won at New Hampshire in the playoffs. It’s been a tough year, like I said, but we’ll work through it and try to find out what’s out there. The sun came up today regardless of how bad it might have felt yesterday. It might have felt like it might not, but the sun came up this morning and it’s a new day. You land on your feet and go to work and that’s all you can do.

“It’s a great opportunity for me to show my kids how to handle adversity and how to work through things when life doesn’t go your way and, like I said, we’ll pick up the pieces and move on.”

Berry said he is starting to work through the free agency process with Kevin Harvick Inc. vice president Josh Jones.

“You never know what kind of opportunities come about and where it goes from here. It’s tough to have happen, but at the same time I’ve been extremely fortunate to get the opportunities that I’ve had and been extremely fortunate to drive for the Wood Brothers and this team,” Berry said. “Unfortunately, it’s going in a different direction, but you never know what doors might open up and we’re going to work hard to try and land on our feet and find something. I don’t really have any expectations or plans for what that might be. I’m certainly open to really anything.”

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While Berry feels like not everything this season has been under his control, this revelation didn’t surprise him. He’s seen and heard the rumors linking Jesse Love to the No. 21 car.

“From my side of things, I didn’t exactly feel great about it,” Berry said. “I probably would have said myself I was probably 50-50 on what was going on. It’s like I said, it’s been a tough year. That’s the reality of it. Obviously, I don’t want it to work this way, but it’s been a tough year and when you have some of the things we’ve had happen and the results that we’ve had happen, regardless of the details of it, you start to question that and that’s fair at the end of the day.

“If we had run better, we probably wouldn’t be having this conversation, but we didn’t, so now we’ve got an x-number of races throughout the rest of the year to turn that back around and change the narrative and get back closer to the front. It’s been a struggle for a lot of the Fords and a lot of the guys this year and we’ve just got to turn that around and go to the next race.

“At the end of the day, whether you win or you wreck or whatever you go to work on Monday and go to the next race and that’s what we’re going to do from here on out and see how it all shakes out.”