Josh Berry will not return to Wood Brothers Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series next season, he shared with reporters in a teleconference Wednesday morning. Wood Brothers later confirmed in a release that afternoon it was not exercising its option with the 35-year-old driver and that his replacement will be announced “in the near future.”
“Just to go ahead and put it out there, I will not be back in the 21 car next year,” Berry revealed. “They’ve been amazing to work with, amazing people, and it’s been such a great opportunity.
“What I didn’t want to do was sit here and feed a line to you guys and then have it get announced [later], so I feel like that makes me pretty ignorant, so I wasn’t going to do that.”
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Berry, in his second season with the historic organization, explained that he first heard of the news less than 24 hours before sharing with reporters. Sitting 30th in points through 15 races in 2026, the Hendersonville, Tennessee, native wasn’t completely blindsided.
“You hear the rumor mills start going, so I’m not going to say that I was completely caught off guard,” Berry said. “I didn’t exactly feel great about it. I probably would have said myself I was probably 50-50 in what was going on.
“Obviously, hit the ground running here, working hard to try and find out what’s out there, and certainly open and optimistic about any opportunities that come my way, but first and foremost, we’re going to do our best to finish this season strong and leave in a good place.”
A statement from Wood Brothers Racing read: “We thank Josh Berry for all he’s done for Wood Brothers Racing and our partners over the last two seasons. Josh has been a great teammate and we look forward to a strong finish to this season. We wish Josh all the best moving forward. We will announce who will be driving the No. 21 Ford Mustang Dark Horse in 2027 soon and we are excited for what lies ahead for Wood Brothers Racing.”
Berry joined Wood Brothers Racing ahead of the 2025 season, taking the reins after Harrison Burton’s three-year stint with the team. After spending his rookie season with now-defunct Stewart-Haas Racing, Berry started his WBR tenure with a bang, winning his first career race that March at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. But come the playoffs, Berry crashed in all three Round of 16 races — including on Lap 1 in the opener at Darlington Raceway — and exited the postseason early, ultimately finishing 16th in the series ranks.
After finishing ninth in the Daytona 500 this season, Berry has struggled since. He’s finished 26th or worse in 11 of 15 races in 2026, including four DNFs. His only other top 10 came at Martinsville Speedway.
“It’s been a tough year, and when you have some of the things we’ve had happen and the results we’ve had happen — regardless of the details of it — you start to question (returning), and that’s fair,” Berry explained. “If we had ran better, we probably wouldn’t be having this conversation, but we didn’t. Now, we got 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’s been a struggle really for a lot of the Fords and a lot of the guys this year, and we just got to turn that around and go to the next race. At the end of the day, whether you win or you wreck, whatever, you go to work Monday and go to the next race, and that’s what we’re going to do from here on out and see how it all shakes out.”
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Before moving to the Cup Series in 2024, Berry carved out a successful career with JR Motorsports. He first joined the Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kelley Earnhardt Miller-owned organization in 2010, primarily driving late models up the East Coast before finally earning a part-time shot in the O’Reilly Series in 2021. At times, he believed he’d be a lifelong late-model driver. But Berry took advantage of his shot, and in his sixth race, won at Martinsville after leading 95 laps.
After 12 races in the No. 8 Chevrolet, Berry earned additional opportunities, making his Cup Series debut later that year for Spire Motorsports. After fellow JRM driver Michael Annett suffered an injury, Berry climbed behind the wheel of the No. 1 Chevrolet, winning the fall race at Las Vegas.
Berry moved to a full-time ride with JRM in 2022 and won three more times, earning 20 top-10 finishes and qualifying for the Championship 4. He returned in 2023, scoring 18 additional top 10s but went winless — finishing 11th in the series ranks.
But now, Berry’s back to the drawing board — wondering what’ll come next in his NASCAR national series career.
“I’ve been extremely fortunate to get the opportunities I’ve had, and been extremely fortunate to drive for the Wood Brothers and this team,” Berry said. “Unfortunately, it’s going a different direction, but you never know what doors might open up, and we’re going to work hard to land on our feet and find something.
“I’m still the guy that won Las Vegas. I’m still the same guy that nearly won New Hampshire in the playoffs. It’s been a tough year, but we’ll work through it and try to find what‘s out there.
“The sun came up this morning, and it’s a new day. You land on your feet and you go to work; that’s all you can do.”