LOUDON, N.H. — 2026 has been a trying year for Josh Berry. The No. 21 team struggled to find speed and consistency. Then, in the middle of its disappointing season, the Wood Brothers announced Berry will be replaced in 2027 by Jesse Love, the defending NASCAR O’Reilly Series champion.
Berry, a late-model standout before moving to the O’Reilly Series full-time with JR Motorsports in 2022, entered the Cup Series in 2024, a rookie at 34. He scored his first NASCAR Cup Series win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2025.
Whether it’s because he’s auditioning for one of the few available rides or because he’s got nothing left to lose at Wood Brothers, Berry has been on a tear for the last month. He scored his fourth straight top 10 on Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, leading four times for 73 laps and finishing a hard-fought third.
“Our car was really good,” Berry said after the race. “The guys did a great job. We had a solid weekend from start to finish and led a lot of laps. We were in control there for a little while, but that one caution fell and it just felt like that was one of them that was gonna bite us at some point and ultimately it did… but I fought hard there.”
The No. 21 bore the scars of Berry’s battle, with the paint scuffed and scraped on all four fenders. He didn’t go gently when he fell back briefly on a late caution, after battling race winner Ryan Blaney relentlessly for the lead earlier in the race. Berry insists his team hasn’t done anything differently in the last month to attribute its hot streak to.
“Maybe I was a little rougher today than normal. I don’t necessarily like racing like that, but these guys know what I’m up against right now,” Berry explained. “I think most of them have a lot of respect for me, so I think they understand. Knocking everybody out of the way as soon as you get to them is not something that’s sustainable over the course of a Cup season, but I think in this scenario you’re just fighting for everything you can.
“Like I said, I’m not doing anything different. I’m not prepping any different. I’m not studying any different. I’m doing the same things I’ve always done and we’ve just had better cars and, honestly, better luck. It feels nice to capitalize on it. I have four top 10s in a row and it really would be five if it wasn’t for getting wrecked at Wilkesboro.”
New Hampshire couldn’t have come at a better time for Berry. Already on a roll, he came to his best track, where in three races, he’s never finished lower than third. He qualified on the front row and finished in the top five in both of the opening stages.
Why does he fare so well at a track that many other drivers struggle to figure out? Berry was quick to point to his team.
“I don’t know. For one, we’ve had really good cars,” Berry noted. “I mean, especially the last two years we’ve had really good cars.”
Berry has raised his own stock in search of a 2027 ride, but nothing is certain. He’s been the subject of speculation around the No. 8 Cup ride with Richard Childress Racing or a return to JR Motorsports in the O’Reilly Series. If he can put together a couple more runs like he’s had in the last month, he’ll be hard for a team to pass over.
Amy is an 20-year veteran NASCAR writer and a six-time National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) writing award winner, including first place awards for both columns and race coverage. As well as serving as Photo Editor, Amy writes The Big 6 (Mondays) after every NASCAR Cup Series race. She can also be found working on her bi-weekly columns Holding A Pretty Wheel (Tuesdays) and Only Yesterday (Wednesdays). A New Hampshire native whose heart is in North Carolina, Amy’s work credits have extended everywhere from driver Kenny Wallace’s website to Athlon Sports. She can also be heard weekly as a panelist on the Hard Left Turn podcast that can be found on AccessWDUN.com's Around the Track page.
It’s amazing how well Berry finishes when he avoids contact from John “Hunter” Nemechek. Guess who spun a car on lap 13 of the Truck event?