Josh Berry, Wood Brothers Already Making Their Mark

After finally reaching the pinnacle of NASCAR at the age of 33, Josh Berry got the unpleasant news last spring that Stewart-Haas Racing — the team that gave him his first big break in Cup with a multi-year deal — would be closing its doors at the end of the 2024 season.

Left without a ride alongside his SHR teammates, Berry quickly found his footing in the Wood Brothers’ famed No. 21 and signed a multi-year deal last summer. With a new team and a new crew chief, Berry has already turned heads to start 2025, with an early win and a rejuvenated No. 21 team behind him.

Frontstretch had the opportunity to interview Berry one-on-one prior to the Cup race at Circuit of the Americas on March 2, two weeks before his maiden Cup victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 16.

In the interview, Berry discussed his scramble to find a 2025 ride, signing with and developing chemistry with the No. 21 team, the early speed he showed at Atlanta and the team’s expectations in its first year together.

Stephen Stumpf, Frontstretch: The announcement of SHR closing came in late May. How long after that announcement did you get in contact with the Wood Brothers and start making this deal happen?

Josh Berry: It’s hard to remember exactly, but I feel like it all happened pretty quick. It was made within a month or so of the announcement. Obviously, we were all trying to position ourselves the best we could in anticipation of the worst-case scenario at SHR, which ended up being the case. So yeah, I think we all kind of had a plan. Had a few conversations throughout that time, but the Wood Brothers deal came together fast, and once I met with them and got to see the inside of it, I felt like that was a pretty clear choice.

Stumpf: If I remember correctly, you guys weren’t able to officially pursue (other) opportunities until the (shutdown) announcement came. Is that correct?

Berry: Technically, yes. That’s kind of what we were waiting for, because obviously it was a ‘we didn’t know until we knew’ kind of deal. And once they officially told us, then we knew and could move forward.

Stumpf: What was that kind of limbo like, just considering that you finally got your first full-time Cup ride, and then it seemed up in the air after just a few months?

Berry: That was that most difficult part. I think the (2024) season was kind of in three different zones. You had the early part which was all the speculation, and that was a lot of distraction I think on everybody. There were people already leaving here or there because of all the drama, and once we finally knew what was happening, it was honestly the best part of that whole opportunity, because I felt like we all kind of banded together and really pushed forward to try to run well and create opportunities for ourselves.

We had a lot of good results throughout the summer, and then it kind of went back the other way once everybody kind of started going their own way, and then it got a little more difficult again. But all in all, I would still do it over again. I got to work with some amazing people, and I just hate it turned out like it did.

Stumpf: Now here with the Wood Brothers, in starting this season, what has the difference (versus SHR) been like in terms of the structure of the teams and the inner workings?

Berry: I think it’s honestly a fair amount different.

The relationship with Team Penske is a huge part of this, and to be under that structure in a way, and to be able to lean on Joey (Logano) and Ryan (Blaney) and Austin (Cindric) in these situations is something that makes the whole group stronger. And everybody just works really well together, right? I think that’s the biggest thing, and that builds your confidence that you’re going in the right direction, and it’s been a lot of fun so far. There’s a lot of great people here.

Stumpf: This is your first season working with Miles (Stanley) — I believe this is the first time ever he’s been on (the pit box) for a full season. What has that relationship been like so far?

Berry: He’s done a great job; I think Miles is going to be a top crew chief in this garage. I feel like he’s just really smart when it comes to the racing, but he has a great attitude. He’s really easy to talk to, and he’s a hard worker, so I feel like we have a great spot.

I think we’ve built a great relationship already, and we’re just at this point where we’re just needing to go racing together and just get some races under our belt and evaluate everything. He’s done a great job, really each race, tuning the car to what I need out of it, and we’ve had a lot of speed.

Stumpf: You guys showed that speed at Atlanta. Fifty-six laps led, a career high for you, but unfortunately it didn’t finish that way. But despite how it ended, just how good of a sign was it to just be that fast out of the gate?

Berry: Obviously, our cars and Ford have been strong on the superspeedways, so it’s really not a total surprise. But at the same time, our car was really fast but it handled really well, too. I think that’s the important part, to keep track position in those races and being able to work through the field a couple of times like we did when we did lose track position.

I thought Miles called a really good race keeping us up there, and unfortunately it didn’t work out in the last couple of laps, but everyone here noticed how well we ran. And it’s disappointing to not get the finish, but obviously that’s going to happen in that style of racing at times.

Stumpf: Is that car going to be able to be repaired or was it a total loss?

Berry: I’m not exactly sure. I don’t think (the damage) was too bad, but I’m sure we’ll have another one that’ll be just as fast next time.

Stumpf: Start of every year, every team’s expectation in the garage is to win a race, make the playoffs and more. Are there any other goals that you guys are looking to meet towards the end of the year that’d be like, ‘we did a good job’ this season?

Berry: I think it’s always hard to set goals in that.

Obviously, like you said, that’s pretty much everyone’s goal is to win the race, win a race, make the playoffs. And in this day and age, you pretty much got to plan on winning a race if you’re going to make the playoffs. But I think for us it’s just establishing some consistency early on. Looking at my performance last year, I felt like the biggest area of improvement was superspeedways and road courses. We’ve already had a couple of solid runs — obviously Atlanta for sure, a great superspeedway race — so I think we’re checking the box in there.

And then obviously we’re here at a road course and we want to be more competitive and just take what we get, have a solid day, stay out of trouble and improve for the next one.

Stumpf: You’re on a multi-year contract, so how nice is it to have that stability and the fact that you should be here next year and be able to build on everything you’ve done this year?

Berry: I think in this, you still have to go out and perform, right? I think that’s the biggest thing, and I think the last couple of years have been distracting in that part of just dealing with all of the positioning and contracts and teams shutting down.

So really for me over the offseason, I just tried to kind of think a lot about what I need to do to improve, and I think for me, it’s just focus on the racing, right? Try to limit all the distractions outside of it, and just really focus on the racing and my race team and preparing the best I can for each one of these races, and really that’s my goal going forward.

I think at this point, I think if you go out and have good results, things seem to take care of themselves, and to me that’s the biggest priority right now.

Stumpf: Since that’s your priority, has what you’ve done outside the car, outside the garage area on the weekends — does that change your day-to-day life compared to last year?

Berry: I’m definitely busier this year, working with the No. 21 team than (with) what we had going on last year.

I do feel a little better prepared with all the tools that I have around me and working with Miles as much as I have, and I think those are all positive things you want to do as much as you can to build confidence before you get to the racetrack. I feel like we’re doing a good job of that and we just have to keep that going on throughout the season, and I think good things will come.

Stumpf: You said that superspeedways, road courses are among the places you made the most gains. You were great on the short tracks last year. Do you feel like that’s still your biggest strength going into this season?

Berry: Yeah, those are obviously races that I think we have circled as great opportunities to score a lot of points, run well. The Team Penske cars have had good speed on the short tracks over the last couple of years, so we feel like we’re positioned to continue that. And I definitely think those are going to be great opportunities we have.

I’m excited to get to those and see how we do. I feel like there’s a probably a good chance we’ll have a chance to win one of them.

And it didn’t take long for that first win to arrive. After a disappointing 26th-place showing at COTA, Berry rebounded with a fourth-place showing at Phoenix Raceway for the Wood Brothers’ first-ever top five at the one-mile track. Then came Las Vegas, where Berry raced at the front of the field all day and passed Daniel Suarez with 16 to go to score his first Cup win and the team’s 101st.

It’s only been five races, and it’s already clear that Berry, Stanley and the No. 21 team are building something special.