Josh Berry will join Legacy Motor Club to drive its No. 42 Toyota in the 2027 NASCAR Cup Series season, the team announced Tuesday afternoon.
Berry replaces John Hunter Nemechek, six days after the team confirmed it will part ways with Nemechek after the 2026 season.
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Berry, 35, will return to the Cup Series for a fourth full-time season after he announced June 10 that Wood Brothers Racing would not retain him at the end of the year. After posting just two top 10s in the first 21 races of 2026, Berry has rattled off six consecutive top-10 finishes, including a banner performance at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Aug. 23 in which he led 73 laps and finished a season-best third.
“Josh is a proven competitor who has earned everything through hard work and getting his hands dirty,” Jimmie Johnson, co-owner of Legacy, said in a team press release. “What stands out about Josh is his ability to manage the big picture behind the wheel — his experience, perspective and wisdom. His career has been built on that foundation, and I know he will have a meaningful impact here. We’re thrilled to have him at Legacy.”
“Legacy Motor Club is an organization that clearly has a vision for where they want to go, and I want to be part of that,” Berry said in a team release. “I’ve had a chance to see this team up close, and I know what they’re capable of. The way Jimmie has built this place — the people, the culture, the direction — it’s exactly the kind of environment I want to compete in.”
A career short-track ace in the Late Model Stock ranks for JR Motorsports, Berry got his first best shot in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series in 2021 with JRM, competing in 22 of 33 races that season and earning his first two career victories. Berry returned to the series in 2022 for his first full-time campaign in NASCAR’s national series and won an additional three races before finishing fourth in the championship standings.
Berry went winless in his 2023 O’Reilly campaign but impressed in 10 Cup Series starts that season made in relief of Cup regulars, including Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman, as well as making two starts for Legacy Motor Club in its No. 42 car that season.
Berry graduated to the Cup Series with Stewart-Haas Racing full time in 2024, then joined the iconic Wood Brothers Racing team in 2025, earning his first career Cup win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March 2025.
A Tennessee native, Berry joins two-time Southern 500 winner Erik Jones and current Cup Series sophomore Riley Herbst for 2027, Legacy Motor Club’s first season as a three-car team full time.
Jones signed a multiyear contract extension with Legacy in 2024 to pilot its No. 43 Toyota and is set to return to the ride for a sixth season next year. Herbst, who currently competes for 23XI Racing’s No. 35 team, was announced as Legacy’s third driver on Sept. 3 as he takes over the No. 84 Toyota.