Josh Berry, driver of the No. 21 Motorcraft\/Quick Lane Ford Mustang Dark Horse, will be starting his second season behind the wheel for Wood Brothers Racing when the Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium kicks off the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season.\u00a0Berry answered questions from the media about this weekend\u2019s scheduled event, along with his hopes for the new year.<\/p>\n
JOSH BERRY, No. 21 Motorcraft\/Quick Lane Ford Mustang Dark Horse \u2013 HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE NEW FORMAT?\u00a0\u201cI think it will be interesting to see if things change with how people race and how they think and how it evolves throughout the season.\u00a0Obviously, consistency is going to be more important, which I don\u2019t think is necessarily a bad thing.\u00a0I\u2019m excited.\u00a0I think it makes each race mean that much more and that\u2019s what they\u2019re trying to accomplish, so it should be fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE TRAJECTORY OF YOUR TEAM GOING INTO YEAR TWO WITH WBR?\u00a0\u201cI\u2019m excited for it.\u00a0I agree that there were a lot of positives in our performance last year.\u00a0There were plenty of races where the finish didn\u2019t indicate the type of day we had, so that\u2019s been our focus is looking through some of that stuff and trying to figure out what we could do better and put ourselves in better positions to get the finishes we deserve.\u00a0You go back to the points format, that\u2019s gonna be more important, but, overall, I feel good.\u00a0This is really the first year since I\u2019ve been in Cup or Xfinity that I\u2019ve really had the same group two years in a row.\u00a0That made the offseason feel different since I\u2019ve already been working with these guys and knowing them, and not establishing that communication, so I think that should be a positive as well and we\u2019re ready to get to the Clash.\u201d<\/p>\n
ARE YOU COMFORTABLE WITH THE NEW DIGITAL DASH YET?\u00a0\u201cI didn\u2019t notice too much of a change.\u00a0It\u2019s got some LED lights that could be used to shift lights if you wanted to, but, overall, I feel like it\u2019s pretty similar.\u00a0It seems like it works quicker, faster.\u00a0It\u2019s better quality, so, overall, I think it\u2019s all good and really I haven\u2019t experienced any issues.\u00a0We ran pit road a couple times (at the NWS test) just practicing that and felt good about everything.\u00a0Overall, I feel like it\u2019s ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n
SNOW IS A POTENTIAL ISSUE THIS WEEKEND.\u00a0HAVE YOU HEARD ANYTHING IN REGARDS TO WHAT NASCAR IS THINKING AND IF THIS HAS TO BE RESCHEDULED TO A LATER DATE?\u00a0\u201cNo, I haven\u2019t.\u00a0I think we\u2019re all kind of in the same scenario, just waiting to see what they\u2019re thinking going forward.\u00a0I would say that\u2019s probably a possibility in looking at the forecast.\u00a0I think they\u2019re just probably waiting for it to get a little closer and get a better idea of what the weather is looking like before they make a decision.\u00a0For us, we\u2019re planning on racing.\u201d<\/p>\n
HOW MUCH INTERACTION HAVE YOU HAD WITH STEVE O\u2019DONNELL AND HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE HIS LEADERSHIP STYLE?\u00a0\u201cI haven\u2019t honestly had a lot of dealings with him.\u00a0I\u2019ve obviously been part of some of those meetings when he\u2019s been around, but I really don\u2019t have an opinion one way or another, honestly.\u201d<\/p>\n
WHEN YOU LOOK AT LAST SEASON HOLISTICALLY, ARE THERE CERTAIN AREAS OF EXECUTION YOU FEEL YOU NEED TO WORK ON TO BE BETTER?\u00a0\u201cI think we sat down early in the offseason and kind of broke it down and looked at each race.\u00a0It\u2019s a number of things.\u00a0It\u2019s issues on pit road.\u00a0There were a couple of speeding penalties over the course of the year.\u00a0Obviously, that stuff you have to clean up.\u00a0Issues on pit road with penalties.\u00a0Mechanical problems.\u00a0We had a couple of those along the way.\u00a0I think the biggest thing is just looking at the decision-making towards getting to these races maybe is the biggest thing.\u00a0I think you\u2019re better off to take a top 10 than maybe put yourself in a bad spot that could result in it, but, honestly, the key to that is not something that I don\u2019t think any of us really know.\u00a0Obviously, you\u2019ve got to go out and race hard and fight for every spot, and just kind of learning with experience and trying to make sure we get the finishes we deserve.\u00a0But the biggest thing, I think, is just limiting your mistakes.\u00a0Like I said, we had a handful of those over the course of the year and hopefully we can clean those up and get the finishes we should.\u201d<\/p>\n
IS YOUR CONFIDENCE HIGHER KNOWING THAT YOU DON\u2019T HAVE TO REACCLIMATE YOURSELF TO A NEW TEAM OR NEW CREW MEMBERS?\u00a0\u201cYeah, I think so.\u00a0I think it helps put us in a better spot.\u00a0Obviously, the last couple of years in the Cup Series have been with two different organizations, and now going back to this and having the same group, the same crew chief, the same engineers, really the same everybody, so it just kind of builds more fluidity.\u00a0It doesn\u2019t feel like you\u2019re starting over and learning each other as much.\u00a0It\u2019s made the offseason maybe go a little bit longer, maybe a little bit more refreshing because you\u2019re not doing as much random things that you have to check off in the offseason.\u00a0I\u2019m excited for it.\u00a0I feel like me and Miles (Stanley) have had a really good relationship and now Miles is going into his second year as a crew chief as well, so I know he\u2019s only gonna keep getting better, so I feel like we\u2019re poised to have a really strong year.\u201d<\/p>\n
DO YOU THINK WITH THE NEW HORSEPOWER PACKAGE ON THE SHORT TRACKS THAT YOU HAVE A CHANCE TO WIN MORE RACES?\u00a0\u201cYeah.\u00a0Obviously, the short tracks I feel like we had good performance.\u00a0That was probably our strongest last year.\u00a0I think that it will be interesting to see how the horsepower package changes things, but, ultimately, yeah, we feel strong on the short tracks.\u00a0We\u2019re on board with the power change.\u00a0I think it will be a good thing for racing, and I feel like we can go out and win at short tracks every time we go there.\u201d<\/p>\n
HOW DOES THE COMBINATION OF TEMPERATURES THIS WEEKEND AND A SHORT TRACK AFFECT YOUR PREPARATIONS?\u00a0\u201cThe weather is gonna be interesting to follow, obviously, from just the schedule side of things and how much track time we get or don\u2019t get and if that becomes a factor.\u00a0I think the biggest thing is prioritizing getting heat in your tires early in runs, early in practice and obviously qualifying.\u00a0That\u2019s the biggest thing that stands out when it\u2019s cold like this is just making more of an effort to do that, but, really, inside the car it doesn\u2019t change too much outside of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
THIS WILL BE YOUR SECOND DAYTONA 500 WITH WBR.\u00a0WHAT\u2019S THE PRESSURE LIKE RACING FOR A TEAM WITH THE HISTORY THEY HAVE THERE?\u00a0\u201cObvoiusly, they\u2019ve had a great history there and it\u2019s a race that we all as drivers put pressure on ourselves to go out and perform well and hopefully compete for the win.\u00a0It\u2019s the biggest race of the year and obviously being a part of the Wood Brothers and Team Penske, their cars have always been really strong at those races and being able to capitalize on that is something that\u2019s obviously really important to us, so hopefully we can go do that and avoid all the trouble to be there at the end and give ourselves a shot at it.\u201d<\/p>\n
THE WIN AND IN COMPONENT IS GONE THIS YEAR.\u00a0HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THAT BECAUSE YOUR WIN AT VEGAS LAST YEAR WAS LIFE CHANGING?\u00a0\u201cI think that obviously it\u2019s a different format, but first time winners and first wins in this sport have always been something that are really popular and make for great stories.\u00a0There\u2019s no reason that the playoff format changing should change the feeling that you get from when you have a first-time winner or an underdog story type of deal \u2013 kind of like we were last year.\u00a0Now it doesn\u2019t include an automatic berth into the playoffs or the Chase, but it\u2019s still a great story.\u00a0There are gonna be a lot of storylines evolve throughout the season and as that changes, relying on consistency a little bit more is probably gonna put the best guys in the Chase at the end of the year.\u00a0As a team, we feel a little more pressure going into this knowing that we\u2019ve got to execute week in and week out and, to me, that\u2019s not a bad thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
WHAT IS ONE SPECIFIC WAY YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE NASCAR CONTINUE SUPPORTING GRASSROOTS TRACKS LIKE BOWMAN GRAY, AND DO YOU SEE ROOM FOR ROTATING EVENTS LIKE THE CHASE TO OTHER TRACKS LIKE NEW SMYRNA OR HICKORY OR THE NASHVILLE FAIRGROUNDS?\u00a0\u201cYeah, definitely.\u00a0I think they\u2019re off to a great start with the investment they made into Bowman Gray and SMI with North Wilkesboro as well.\u00a0That\u2019s a great starting point, and I think there is definitely room with this exhibition Clash that we can go around to some different places like the ones you mentioned and make an investment in there and improve their facilities and bring a really big event there, so I think that\u2019s the biggest thing to continue to do is support these tracks.\u00a0I think it would be really cool to kind of see this race evolve into traveling to a few different short tracks every couple of years.\u00a0That would make for some good stories.\u201d<\/p>\n
OUTSIDE OF LAS VEGAS, IS THERE A SPECIFIC TRACK OR WEEKEND YOU\u2019RE LOOKING FORWARD TO IN 2026?\u00a0\u201cYeah, I think there are a lot of them.\u00a0I think there are a lot of places where we were really strong last year.\u00a0I obviously love going to Martinsville, a lot of the short tracks \u2013 Phoenix, Richmond we were really good at.\u00a0It was a little bit different on a few of the intermediates.\u00a0We had some really good speed at a couple of them, but missed it at a couple of them, too.\u00a0I think generally that all of the short tracks are gonna be a really good opportunity for us to run really well and hopefully get a win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ford Racing PR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Josh Berry, driver of the No. 21 Motorcraft\/Quick Lane Ford Mustang Dark Horse, will be starting his second…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":439270,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,10660,925,19546,10221,13157,634,582,721,1704,82,5794],"class_list":["post-439269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-chase","tag-daytona","tag-daytona-500","tag-ford","tag-group","tag-nascar","tag-racing","tag-series","tag-speed","tag-sports","tag-team-penske"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=439269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439269\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/439270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=439269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=439269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=439269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}