Josh Berry brings continuity into second season with Wood Brothers

Josh Berry's offseason has felt prolonged yet revitalizing -- both in very good ways. Heading into his third full-time season at the NASCAR Cup Series level, Berry, who won his first race at the premier level and qualified for the playoffs a year ago, returns to the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford looking to develop into a bona fide contender. The 35-year-old Hendersonville, Tennessee, native banked eight top 10s in his first year with the organization, but feels he has plenty of room to grow into one of stock-car racing's best. But one of the advantages he has entering 2026, Berry explained, is continuity. RELATED: Daytona 500 weekend schedule | 2026 Cup Series schedule Save for a hauler driver, the family-owned organization retained its entire road crew -- from the top down -- for Berry's third season driving a blue oval, and second with the Woods. That starts with crew chief Samuel "Miles" Stanley and spotter Jason Jarrett, and includes engineers and mechanics on the No. 21 team last year. While the pit crew hasn't been finalized, the team said, Berry believes the cohesion is a confidence booster and something he's yet to see since making the switch to national-series racing in 2021. "The last couple of years in the Cup Series have been with two different organizations, and now going back to this and having the same group, the same crew chief, the same engineers, really the same everybody, so it just kind of builds more fluidity," Berry said during a media teleconference. "It doesn't feel like you're starting over and learning each other as much. It's made the offseason maybe go a little bit longer, maybe a little bit more refreshing because you're not doing as much random things that you have to check off in the offseason. "This is really the first year since I've been in Cup or (O'Reilly) that I've really had the same group two years in a row. That made the offseason feel different since I've already been working with these guys and knowing them, and not establishing that communication, so I think that should be a positive. I feel like me and Miles (Stanley) have had a really good relationship, and now Miles is going into his second year as a crew chief as well, so I know he's only gonna keep getting better, so I feel like we're poised to have a really strong year." [caption id="attachment_498341" align="aligncenter" width="1300"]Logan Riely | Getty Images[/caption] Berry punched his playoff ticket early in 2025, winning the fifth race of the season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He treaded water for much of the five-plus months but entered the postseason with consecutive top 10s to positively push wind in the team's sails. However, three consecutive last-place finishes in the Round of 16 quickly derailed Berry's playoff train, and the team finished 16th in points. Berry explained that the team needs to improve at limiting mistakes, himself included, to succeed in the first year of the revitalized Chase postseason format. Recognizing that Wood Brothers benefitted from the playoff format, earning an automatic berth for his Vegas win, Berry believes the No. 21 team can succeed in The Chase and improve on a winning 2025 campaign. MORE: Josh Berry driver page | Wood Brothers season preview "We sat down early in the offseason and kind of broke it down and looked at each race. It's a number of things," Berry said. "It's issues on pit road. There were a couple of speeding penalties over the course of the year. Obviously, that stuff you have to clean up. The biggest thing is just looking at the decision-making towards getting to these races, maybe is the biggest thing. I think you're better off to take a top 10 than maybe put yourself in a bad spot that could result in it, but honestly, the key to that is not something that I don't think any of us really know. "There were a lot of positives in our performance last year. There were plenty of races where the finish didn't indicate the type of day we had, so that's been our focus, is looking through some of that stuff and trying to figure out what we could do better and put ourselves in better positions to get the finishes we deserve."