Josh Berry was scheduled for Ford’s weekly zoom conference because this weekend’s event at Pocono Raceway marks his 100th NASCAR Cup Series start; however, it suddenly took a different direction when the Tennessee native announced he wouldn’t return to Wood Brothers Racing in 2027.
“I didn’t want to sit here and feed a line to you guys and then have it get announced in 30 minutes. I feel like that would make me look pretty ignorant,” Berry said.
The 35-year-old Berry said he received the news less than 24 hours ago, but he wasn’t caught completely off guard.
“It’s been a tough year. That’s the reality of it,” Berry said. “If we had ran better, we probably wouldn’t be having this conversation. It’s been a struggle for a lot of the Fords and a lot of the guys this year.”
Berry said he was still “trying to put the pieces together and wrap my head” around everything.
“Obviously, I’m disappointed,” Berry continued. “It’s tough to have happen, but at the same time, I’ve been extremely fortunate to get the opportunities I’ve had and been extremely fortunate to drive for the Wood Brothers. They’ve been amazing to work with, amazing people. It’s now about putting the pieces together and seeing what’s out there.
“The sun came up this morning, and it’s a new day, and 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.”
Berry joined Wood Brothers Racing in 2025 after spending one year with Stewart Haas Racing, which closed at the end of 2024. In his first year with the Wood Brothers, he won at Las Vegas and produced three top-five and eight top-10 finishes. However, the first 15 races this season have been disappointing with Berry recording only two top-10 finishes. One of those came in the season opening Daytona 500 when Berry placed ninth. The other one occurred in March in Martinsville where he finished 10th. Since then, Berry hadn’t finished better than 27th until last Sunday at Michigan when he placed 15th. Currently, Berry is 30th in the point standings.
“Sometimes things work out, and you’re not sure why, and sometimes they don’t work out and you’re not sure why,” Berry said. “Unfortunately, I’m kind of living in the latter of that right now.”
Berry said he doesn’t believe people realize how big a step it is in the competition arena to go from the Craftsman Truck Series to the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and then to Cup. He pointed to last year when he won the season’s fifth race, found himself in contention on numerous occasions, made the playoffs, finished second to Ryan Blaney at New Hampshire, and ended the year with a couple of top 10s.
“Felt good about going into the off-season, and, you know this year’s certainly been a struggle,” Berry reiterated. “How quickly things can change.”
Despite not returning to the Wood Brothers for a third season, Berry said winning his first Cup race with the legendary team would always be special.
A North Carolina native, Deb Williams is an award-winning motorsports journalist who is in her fourth decade covering auto racing. In addition to covering the sport for United Press International, she has written motorsports articles for several newspapers, magazines and websites including espnW.com, USA Today, and The Charlotte Observer. Her awards include the American Motorsports Media Award of Excellence, two-time National Motorsports Press Association writer of the year, and two-time recipient of the Russ Catlin award. She also has won an award in the North Carolina Press Association’s sports feature category. During her career, Deb has been managing editor of GT Motorsports magazine and was with Winston Cup Scene and NASCAR Winston Cup Scene for 18 years, serving as the publication’s editor for 10 years. In 2024 she was inducted into the NMPA Hall of Fame.