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.<\/p>\n
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\u2019Reilly Auto Parts Series with JR Motorsports.<\/p>\n
Before taking over the famed No. 21, Berry replaced Kevin Harvick in the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4. Berry is also represented by Harvick\u2019s sports agency.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Wood Brothers piece, I\u2019ll just go ahead and put it out there that I will not be back in the 21 car next year,\u201d Berry said during a Tuesday Ford Performance conference call. \u201cI\u2019m obviously disappointed about that. They\u2019ve been amazing to work with. They\u2019re amazing people and it\u2019s 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\u2019m not going to be back in the 21 next year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to hit the ground running and working hard to try to find out what\u2019s out there and I\u2019m certainly open and optimistic about any opportunities that come my way. But, first and foremost, we\u2019re going to do our best to finish this season strong and leave in a good place.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cI still feel like I’m the same guy that won Las Vegas,\u201d Berry said. \u201cI\u2019m still the same guy that nearly won at New Hampshire in the playoffs. It\u2019s been a tough year, like I said, but we\u2019ll work through it and try to find out what\u2019s 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\u2019s a new day. You land on your feet and go to work and that\u2019s all you can do.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a great opportunity for me to show my kids how to handle adversity and how to work through things when life doesn\u2019t go your way and, like I said, we\u2019ll pick up the pieces and move on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Berry said he is starting to work through the free agency process with Kevin Harvick Inc. vice president Josh Jones.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou never know what kind of opportunities come about and where it goes from here. It\u2019s tough to have happen, but at the same time I\u2019ve been extremely fortunate to get the opportunities that I\u2019ve had and been extremely fortunate to drive for the Wood Brothers and this team,\u201d Berry said. \u201cUnfortunately, it\u2019s going in a different direction, but you never know what doors might open up and we\u2019re going to work hard to try and land on our feet and find something. I don\u2019t really have any expectations or plans for what that might be. I\u2019m certainly open to really anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
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While Berry feels like not everything this season has been under his control, this revelation didn\u2019t surprise him. He\u2019s seen and heard the rumors linking Jesse Love to the No. 21 car.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom my side of things, I didn\u2019t exactly feel great about it,\u201d Berry said. \u201cI probably would have said myself I was probably 50-50 on what was going on. It\u2019s like I said, it\u2019s been a tough year. That\u2019s the reality of it. Obviously, I don\u2019t want it to work this way, but it\u2019s been a tough year and when you have some of the things we\u2019ve had happen and the results that we\u2019ve had happen, regardless of the details of it, you start to question that and that\u2019s fair at the end of the day.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we had run better, we probably wouldn\u2019t be having this conversation, but we didn\u2019t, so now we\u2019ve 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\u2019s been a struggle for a lot of the Fords and a lot of the guys this year and we\u2019ve just got to turn that around and go to the next race.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt 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\u2019s what we\u2019re going to do from here on out and see how it all shakes out.\u201d<\/p>\n
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