Josh Berry

Joshua William Berry (born October 22, 1990) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 21 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Wood Brothers Racing. Berry is noted for getting his start as a standout in Late Model Stock Cars with JR Motorsports from 2010–2023 where he became the all-time winningest driver in CARS Tour history.

Racing career

Early career and late model racing

Berry met his future car owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 2008 when competing in an online sim racing league called DMP Online Racing. At the time, he was racing Legend Cars at his home track of the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway in Nashville while also attending Volunteer State Community College and working as a bank teller to fund his racing career. Earnhardt Jr. then signed Berry to his JR Motorsports team in 2010 to compete in late model racing.

At the 2015 Denny Hamlin Short Track Showdown, Berry spun Lee Pulliam while racing him and Timothy Peters for the lead on the final lap; Berry was moved down to 17th in the running order and drew criticism from Pulliam, who called Berry "the biggest joke in racing." After being spun by Bobby McCarty in CARS Tour at Motor Mile Speedway in 2019 and Ace Speedway in 2020, both times when Berry was leading the race, Berry intentionally wrecked McCarty later in the Ace Speedway race, resulting in a one-race suspension. Berry ditched a planned CARS schedule and instead focused on the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series, winning 24 races en route to a national championship.

On August 31, 2022 Berry was the crew chief for Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the CARS Tour Window World 125 late model race at North Wilkesboro Speedway and on May 17, 2023 again for the race at North Wilkesboro Speedway the following season.

NASCAR and ARCA

2014–2021

Berry's first NASCAR Xfinity Series race came at Iowa Speedway, driving the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro for JR Motorsports. He started tenth and finished twelfth, finishing on the lead lap. He returned to the 5 car for the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, again logging a lead-lap finish in 25th. He finished his debut season 50th in points. He returned to JR Motorsports for one race in 2015, finishing seventh at Richmond International Raceway. In 2016, his first race of the season was at Iowa, where he finished ninth in the No. 88 for JR Motorsports. He returned to that car in the first race of the Xfinity Series Playoffs, at Kentucky Speedway and ended up finishing 13th. Berry also made one start for Obaika Racing, finishing 27th at Darlington Raceway. Berry also debuted in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series during the 2016 season, driving the No. 71 Contreras Motorsports truck to a 13th-place finish at Chicagoland Speedway.

In 2017, Berry made his first Xfinity Series start of the season, attempting the Kansas race for newly-formed NextGen Motorsports, driving their No. 55 Toyota. After qualifying 33rd, he finished 34th after suffering an engine failure on lap 182.

In 2018, Berry made his debut in the ARCA Racing Series, driving for Chad Bryant Racing in their No. 22 Ford at Salem Speedway in April of that year, finishing 4th. In 2019, he drove for Visconti Motorsports and finished 3rd in their No. 74 car in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race at New Hampshire in September, which was his first start in that series. These were his only starts in NASCAR or ARCA in both of these years.

2021

On October 22, 2020, JR Motorsports announced that it had scheduled Berry to drive its No. 8 car for 12 races in the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series season. At Phoenix Raceway, Berry was turned by Santino Ferrucci, prompting him to give Ferrucci double middle fingers as he drove by. He recorded his first Xfinity win at Martinsville upon passing Ty Gibbs for the lead with 28 laps remaining; Berry was the fifth driver to win his maiden race in the series at Martinsville alongside Sam Ard (1982), Brett Bodine (1985), Brad Teague (1987) and Jeff Burton (1990).

In March, Berry returned to the Truck Series for the first time since 2016. He substituted for Kris Wright in the No. 02 for Young's Motorsports after Wright tested positive for COVID-19.

In May, Berry made his NASCAR Cup Series debut in the Drydene 400 at Dover International Speedway, substituting for Justin Haley in the Spire Motorsports No. 77 car after Haley was sidelined by COVID-19 protocols, marking the second time that Berry was called on to fill in for a driver that had to miss a race because of COVID-19. He also drove in his second ARCA Menards Series East (formerly NASCAR K&N Pro Series East) race that weekend in the No. 41 for Cook-Finley Racing, which meant that he did triple duty that weekend at Dover. On May 26, it was announced that Berry would get to compete in the Xfinity Series race at Mid-Ohio road course in the No. 31 for Jordan Anderson Racing. Miguel Paludo was driving Berry's normal car, the No. 8 for JR Motorsports, in this race.

Another Truck return came in June in the No. 25 of Rackley W.A.R. for three races at Texas, Nashville, and Pocono after the departure of Timothy Peters. A month later, he rejoined JRM for the Xfinity race at Loudon in the No. 1 after Michael Annett suffered a leg injury.

On August 16, Berry was confirmed to drive the No. 8 for JR Motorsports full-time in 2022. Later in the week, he filled in for Spire's other Cup driver Corey LaJoie at Michigan when LaJoie was not allowed to compete due to COVID-19 protocols. When Annett was re-injured in September, Berry once again took over as replacement at Bristol and Las Vegas, and he won the latter after passing teammate Justin Allgaier with under 20 laps to go.

2022

Berry began the 2022 season with a 16th place finish at Daytona. He scored wins at Dover and Charlotte to make the playoffs. During the playoffs, Berry won at Las Vegas to make the Championship 4. Berry would ultimately finish fourth in the final points standings.

2023

During the 2023 season, Berry drove winless but stayed consistent enough to make the playoffs. He was eliminated at the conclusion of the Charlotte Roval race.

On March 3, it was announced that Berry would run the Hendrick Motorsports No. 9 at the Las Vegas Cup race after Chase Elliott sustained a leg injury from snowboarding in Colorado. Berry finished 10th the following week in the Cup Series race at Phoenix, and filled in for the next three oval races until Elliott recovered to return at Martinsville. Berry finished second at Richmond, his career best in the Cup Series. On April 26, Berry was announced as the substitute driver of the No. 48 after Alex Bowman suffered a back injury from a sprint car racing accident. On May 21, he raced in the 2023 NASCAR All-Star Race in place of Bowman, qualifying 1st place in the open qualifying race, allowing him to compete in the main race, where he finished 15th. He would then be announced as the driver for Legacy Motor Club in the No. 42 at Michigan after Noah Gragson was suspended indefinitely. He would go on to finish 34th after being involved in a crash while running sixteenth.

2024: Stewart–Haas Racing

On June 21, 2023, Stewart–Haas Racing signed Berry as Kevin Harvick's replacement in the No. 4 in 2024. Berry started the season with a 25th place finish at the 2024 Daytona 500. He scored a season-best third-place finish at Darlington and New Hampshire.

On May 28, 2024, Stewart–Haas Racing announced it would shut down its NASCAR operations at the end of the season.

In the Xfinity Series, Berry signed to drive the AM Racing No. 15 at Pocono.

During the 2024 Coke Zero Sugar 400, Berry was involved in a major crash on lap 159. While leading the second lane down the backstretch, Austin Cindric was turned up the track following a push from behind. Cindric and Berry both spun towards the inside as a multi-car incident ensued behind. Berry's car lifted off the ground, overturned, and slid on its roof at high speed for several seconds. Still upside down, it impacted the inside wall head-on, sending it into a spin before it finally stopped on the apron of the track. After track safety workers righted the overturned car, Berry exited unharmed. Thought of a very similar nature arose to a crash suffered by Ryan Preece in the previous year's running, Berry's car did not barrel roll, due likely to the updates to the track following the former's incident that saw the grass in the area removed and replaced with pavement. The flip happened in spite of an additional air deflector implemented in the intervening week after Corey LaJoie had a similar crash at Michigan the previous race, intended to prevent cars from lifting off the ground.

2025: Wood Brothers Racing and first career win

On July 3, 2024, Berry signed a multi-year deal with Wood Brothers Racing to drive the No. 21 car, replacing Harrison Burton. He started the 2025 season with a 37th place DNF at the 2025 Daytona 500. About a month later, with a 4th place finish, it was the first time that the Wood Brothers finished inside the top 5 at Phoenix. The next week, Berry scored his first career Cup Series win at Las Vegas after passing and pulling away from Daniel Suarez. This win marked the first time since the 1986 and 1987 seasons that the Wood Brothers won in back to back seasons (both won with Kyle Petty).

Personal life

Berry worked as a bank teller before his racing career provided a steady income. He is a graduate of Volunteer State Community College. Berry is a former classmate of two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Josef Newgarden in the 7th and 8th grades. He also attended the same high school at the same time as Taylor Swift.
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Motorsports career results

Stock car career summary

^† As Berry was a guest driver, he was ineligible for championship points.

NASCAR

( Template:NASCAR driver results legend, key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Cup Series

=Daytona 500

=

Xfinity Series

Camping World Truck Series

Season still in progress

Ineligible for series points

ARCA Menards Series

( Template:NASCAR driver results legend, key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

ARCA Menards Series East

ARCA Menards Series West

References

External links

*

Official profile at Wood Brothers Racing
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berry, Josh
1990 births
Living people
Racing drivers from Nashville, Tennessee
NASCAR drivers
ARCA Menards Series drivers
JR Motorsports drivers
CARS Tour drivers