On Wednesday, Berry was launched as the brand new full-time driver for the long-lasting Wooden Brothers No. 21 Ford starting with the 2025 season.
Berry, 33, will change Harrison Burton, the 23-year-old son of former NASCAR star Jeff Burton. The youthful Burton joined the Wooden Brothers in 2021 and has one top-five and 5 top-10 finishes in 92 profession begins.
“Whenever you assume of the historical past and legacy of NASCAR, it’s laborious to not consider the Wooden Brothers and the unimaginable influence they’ve made on the game,” mentioned Berry in a launch from the crew. “It’s an honor and a privilege to be a small a part of carrying on that legacy. To have the ability to add my identify to the checklist of drivers who’ve piloted the long-lasting No. 21 is one thing I don’t take evenly.”
Berry grew to become accessible after SHR co-owners Tony Stewart and Gene Haas introduced in Could their plans to shutter the four-team Cup operation on the finish of the 2024 season.
Haas later determined to retain one of many Cup groups and two Xfinity groups and run it below the Haas Manufacturing facility Crew banner in 2025.
Josh Berry, Stewart-Haas Racing, Overstock.com Ford Mustang
Photograph by: Nigel Kinrade / NKP / Motorsport Photographs
After a profitable profession within the Xfinity Collection with JR Motorsports, Berry joined Stewart-Haas Racing because the full-time driver of its No. 4 Ford crew this season. After a sluggish begin, Berry is nineteenth within the sequence standings with all 4 of his top-10 finishes coming within the final seven races.
Whereas Berry amassed 5 Xfinity wins at JRM, he additionally made 10 Cup begins throughout the 2021 and 2023 seasons – highlighted by a pair of fill-in appearances at Hendrick Motorsports when drivers Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman suffered accidents.
His career-best runner-up end in Cup got here in 2023 at Richmond, Va., whereas filling in for Elliott within the No. 9 Chevrolet.
A legendary race crew
The Wooden Brothers group was began in 1950 by household patriarch Glen Wooden, who raced on the seaside in Daytona, received 4 races in what would develop into the Cup sequence and was named considered one of NASCAR’s 50 Best Drivers.
In all, 20 of NASCAR’s Best Drivers have pushed for Wooden Brothers Racing, together with Curtis Turner, Fireball Roberts, Dale Jarrett, A.J. Foyt, Glen Wooden, Buddy Baker, Junior Johnson, Cale Yarborough, Ned Jarrett, David Pearson, Ralph Earnhardt, Neil Bonnett, Ricky Rudd, Mark Martin, and Invoice Elliott.
Wooden Brothers scored its 98th victory within the 2011 Daytona 500 with rookie Trevor Bayne and its 99th victory at Pocono in 2017 with Ryan Blaney, who now competes at Crew Penske.
“Through the years, we’ve had the privilege of working with a mess of profitable drivers, and now having the chance so as to add Josh Berry to that checklist is a major milestone for our crew,” mentioned Jon Wooden, president, Wooden Brothers Racing. “Josh brings a wealth of expertise and willpower, evident thorough his success in each degree of competitors, from grassroots NASCAR to current day. He matches the values of our crew, and we consider that with Josh behind the wheel, we are going to obtain nice issues collectively on the observe.”
Starting in 2015, the Wooden Brothers entered a technical alliance with Penske, which incorporates driver improvement and utilization of Penske personnel on the No. 21 crew.
