Editor’s note: This is the 15th in a series in which we review the top 30 drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series in reverse order of the 2025 final standings.
Driver: Josh Berry, No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford
Crew chief: Samuel “Miles” Stanley
Final 2025 ranking: 16th
Key stats: 1 win, 3 top fives, 8 top 10s, 207 laps led
How 2025 ended: Berry lost his ride with Stewart-Haas Racing after just one season when the team folded following 2024, but rebounded by signing a multiyear deal with Wood Brothers Racing. He struggled in his first three races of 2025 before finishing fourth in the spring Phoenix race, followed by his first Cup career win the following week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, earning him a spot in the playoffs. Although he was eliminated after the first three postseason races, Berry’s performance rebounded in the final seven contests, including New Hampshire Motor Speedway (runner-up), Martinsville Speedway (10th) and the Phoenix season finale (seventh) to finish the season 16th in points, an 11-spot improvement from the year before with SHR.
Best race: Even though he’s earned nearly 100 wins in other smaller classes in his career, mostly late models, the 35-year-old Berry finally broke through for the biggest win of his longtime racing career on March 16 at Las Vegas. After qualifying seventh, he spent most of the race running in the top 10. He passed Daniel Suárez with 16 laps to go and held on to drive into Victory Lane, defeating runner-up Suárez by 1.358 seconds for what many considered an early-season upset.
RELATED: 2026 Cup Series schedule | Josh Berry driver page
Other season highlights: Berry came close to earning his second Cup career win in the playoff race at New Hampshire, finishing runner-up, 0.937 seconds behind winner Ryan Blaney. He also has developed an affinity for racing at Phoenix; in five Cup career starts there, he has one top five and three top-10 finishes. Additionally, Berry remains a good qualifier. After nine top-10 starts in 2024, Berry improved to 13 top-10 starts this past season.
Stat to know: Berry’s overall performance in the Cup Series has been hampered significantly due to DNFs. He had 10 DNFs with Stewart-Haas in 2024 and nine in 2025 with the Wood Brothers. Of those 19 combined DNFs, 16 were due to crashes.
Quotable: “It’s been a really good first season with the Wood Brothers. Getting the win earlier in the year was a lot of excitement, but we’ve had a lot of good runs over the course of the year, a lot to learn from and look at, and I think we have a lot of room to improve and get a little more consistent. … I feel like we’ve shown a lot of potential (and) a lot of speed at times. (We) just need to clean things up.” — Berry said, looking back at his first season with the legendary organization.
Looking ahead: No major changes are expected for Berry and the No. 21 team for 2026. If he can cut down on the number of crashes, plus continue to improve performance, particularly on short- and mid-size tracks, he should be able to make the playoffs again in 2026. Of course, earning another win would help greatly with that effort.