Josh Berry will not return to Wood Brothers Racing in 2027
MOORESVILLE, N.C. — Josh Berry will not return to Wood Brothers Racing’s NASCAR Cup Series organization in 2027.
The team confirmed they didn’t pick up Berry’s option for 2027, a little over an hour after the driver of the No. 21 Ford broke the news during a Wednesday news conference.
“Less than 24 hours after finding out, I’m still trying to put the pieces together and wrap my head around that,” Berry said. “What I didn’t wanna do is feed a line to you guys and then have it get announced to you 30 minutes later.”
Berry has struggled this season, leading to the release. At the time of his release, he sat 30th in the Cup Series points standings with just two top-10 finishes and the series’ 33rd-best average finish (26.1) after 15 races.
With 11 races until the postseason begins, he is 136 points below the cutline – making a postseason appearance highly unlikely.
“I didn’t feel great. I was probably about 50/50 and it was a tough year,” Berry said. “At the end of the day, if we had run better, we wouldn’t be having this conversation and now we have the rest of the year to turn this around.”
Wood Brothers Racing issued this statement on Berry:
“We thank Josh Berry for all he’s done for Wood Brothers Racing and our partners over the last two seasons. Josh has been a great teammate and we look forward to a strong finish to this season. We wish Josh all the best moving forward.”
The team will announce a driver “soon.”
With Berry out of a ride, he is working with KHI Management to find something for 2027. He shared his approach to finding a new ride.
“I’m certainly open to anything. I’m still the same guy who won at Las Vegas and the same guy who nearly won at New Hampshire [in 2025],” Berry said. “The sun came up this morning and it’s a new day so you land on your feet and go to work and it’s a good opportunity to show my kids how to make things work with adversity when life doesn’t go your way.”
Berry moved up to the NASCAR Cup Series in 2024 with Stewart-Haas Racing after success in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and in his fill-in efforts with Hendrick Motorsports in the Cup Series.
After winning three times and making the Championship 4 during the 2022 NOAPS season, Berry scored three top-10 finishes in eight races filling in at Hendrick. That elevated him to the Cup Series with SHR to succeed Kevin Harvick in 2024.
After SHR shut down at the end of 2024, Wood Brothers Racing picked up Berry for 2025. He’ll remain with the team until the end of 2026.
While the rumor mill has floated several names, including defending NOAPS champion Jesse Love, it’s unconfirmed who will take on that role in 2027.
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Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com