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 exchange 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.
“While you suppose of the historical past and legacy of NASCAR, it’s laborious to not consider the Wooden Brothers and the unbelievable affect they’ve made on the game,” stated Berry in a launch from the workforce. “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 calmly.”
Berry turned out there after SHR co-owners Tony Stewart and Gene Haas introduced in Might 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 beneath the Haas Manufacturing unit Staff banner in 2025.
Josh Berry, Stewart-Haas Racing, Overstock.com Ford Mustang
Picture by: Nigel Kinrade / NKP / Motorsport Photos
After a profitable profession within the Xfinity Sequence with JR Motorsports, Berry joined Stewart-Haas Racing because the full-time driver of its No. 4 Ford workforce this season. After a gradual begin, Berry is nineteenth within the collection 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 workforce
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 change into the Cup collection and was named one in every 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 Staff Penske.
“Over time, 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 workforce,” stated 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 suits the values of our workforce, and we imagine 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 growth and utilization of Penske personnel on the No. 21 workforce.
