Dropping the Hammer: Josh Berry Win Just What Season Needed

I’m a big fan of pleasant surprises.

And the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series needed one.

After William Byron‘s second consecutive Daytona 500 win and Christopher Bell‘s trilogy of wins, the season needed a shot in the arm.

However, was it really a surprise to have Josh Berry be the one to deliver that shot?

Part of the buzz entering last weekend’s race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway was because Berry had delivered Wood Brothers Racing its first top-five finish at Phoenix Raceway.

But the No. 21 Ford and its latest in a revolving door of drivers had been showing promise even before that.

Go all the way back to the Cook Out Clash at Bowman-Gray Stadium, one of Glen and Leonard Wood’s old stomping grounds. Berry was one of the drivers who advanced out of the last chance qualifying race to make the main event.

At Atlanta Motor Speedway, Berry was dicing it up the leaders in the last stage and was in the fight right up until the final lap when he crashed.

Then came Phoenix and the big coming-out party at Vegas.

“We ran really well all year so far, early in the season,” team co-owner Eddie Wood said after the Vegas race. “Things felt right. They just feel right.”

We’ve been here before. Trevor Bayne‘s surprise Daytona 500 win in 2011. Ryan Blaney beating Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch for the win at Pocono Raceway in 2017. Harrison Burton‘s last-lap pass for the win last year at Daytona International Speedway.

But this time, with 34-year-old Berry in the driver’s seat, feels different.

There was nothing fluky about Berry’s triumph, which was the Wood Brothers’ first win on an intermediate track since 1993.

“Look at our track position, our qualifying, the whole package from Daytona to now,” team president Jon Wood said. “If you throw out [Circuit of the Americas] … you’re not supposed to throw ’em out, but if you do, his qualifying average is fifth. He’s either led or won in every race since.

“It’s not supposed to be this easy. I think that’s just a testament to his level of focus and (crew chief) Miles (Stanley’s) big brain.”

Add in that Berry isn’t a young gun waiting for a seat to open at Team Penske. He’s a veteran with a history of winning who’s set to drive the No. 21 beyond 2025.

NASCAR’s longest operating team may finally be in position to experience the type of consistent success it hasn’t seen since the early 1980s.

“Through the years we’ve been through so many ups and downs,” Eddie Wood said. “This sport’s just like every other sport: There’s more downs than there is ups. When you do get in position to be fortunate enough to have the ups, you really appreciate it.

“All of a sudden, things will start building. You stay on the corner long enough, it will be your turn eventually.”

Stanley, in his first full-time season as a Cup crew chief, said he “strongly believe(s) we can be a contender week in and week out.”

However, even he didn’t have Vegas circled as a place his team was “going to be in contention,” even though Berry has won there twice in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

“There are races in the beginning of the season that I think we can, but this was not one of them,” Stanley said. “I’m very surprised.”

So is Berry.

“Our performance the start of the season has 100% exceeded my expectations,” Berry said. “I think it just goes back to just trusting your instincts as a driver that if you’re in a good situation, surrounded by good people, have fast racecars, you can do amazing things.”

Can they do it again this season?

Heck, why not next week? Anything seems possible right now.