Josh Berry needn’t fear about being unemployed in 2025.
The Wooden Brothers Racing staff on Wednesday introduced Berry has signed for 2025, giving him his greatest likelihood to show he belongs within the NASCAR Cup Collection.
To this point in his rookie season, Berry has raced admirably – the No. 4 staff sits nineteenth within the Cup Collection standings and has posted 4 top-10 finishes – however he needed to take his possibilities on the job market with the upcoming closure of Stewart-Haas Racing.
With the Wooden Brothers sitting on 99 wins, Berry could possibly be the fortunate driver who’s ceaselessly etched in NASCAR historical past if he had been to ship the group’s a centesimal victory. The final time the Wooden Brothers received a Cup Collection was in 2017, when future 2023 Cup Collection champion Ryan Blaney held off Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick to win at Pocono.
Whereas the staff has fallen on exhausting instances over the previous three seasons with Harrison Burton behind the wheel, it has nonetheless been aggressive. Through the 2017 season, Blaney took the No. 21 staff all the best way to the Spherical of 8 whereas Matt DiBenedetto took the Wooden Brothers to the Cup Collection playoffs in 2020 earlier than narrowly lacking the postseason in 2021.
Burton’s rookie season with the staff in 2022 was mediocre even by rookie requirements, although, and in 2023 and 2024, the staff regressed. Burton at the moment sits thirty third in Cup Collection factors, second to final amongst full-time rivals.
Berry, 33, offers Wooden Brothers Racing a driver who has proved he can run inside the highest 10 on the Cup stage. He would not have the best ceiling when in comparison with his rivals, however for a staff determined for any semblance of success, he’s a viable possibility behind the wheel.
Berry should not be anticipated to function as a weekly contender in 2025, but when he can at the least carry the No. 21 automobile inside the highest 20 in factors, his first season with the staff ought to be labeled successful and one thing to construct on.
