LOUDON, N.H. – Whenever Josh Berry rolls into New Hampshire Motor Speedway, he’s proven he can contend for the victory, no matter what he’s driving. That trend continued Sunday in the Dollar Tree 301.
Berry entered the “Granite State” this weekend having podium finishes in his prior two Cup Series starts at New Hampshire, placing third in 2024 with Stewart-Haas Racing and runner-up to Ryan Blaney last year. From the drop of the green flag in wet-weather conditions, it was clear he would be in the mix again.
The No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford placed fifth in the opening stage but took command of the race early in Stage 2. After passing Ryan Preece for the lead on Lap 92, Berry would hold the ship for the next 56 laps until his Team Penske brethren Ryan Blaney chased him down. At that time, Berry was uncertain which driver had the best car.
“Early in the race, I thought Blaney was [the best car], then obviously, he had a disastrous pit stop and put us in control,” Berry stated. “We were good. That was impressive for him to hold on, on two tires like that. But it was impressive for us to come from behind, too.”
After winning Stage 2, Blaney lost 14 positions on pit road after an issue changing the left-front tire. That allowed Berry to cycle back to the front, where he battled Bubba Wallace for the lead. Another caution for Carson Hocevar followed, prompting some of the field, including Blaney, to pit for their final service. Berry was among the 10 cars that stayed on track, opting to pit for the last time nearly 20 laps later during a caution period.
When Berry pitted, he needed to zoom from outside the top 10 over the final 70-lap dash to the finish.
“I lost a little track position on that last stop, slid a little long and didn’t have a great stop either,” Berry said of what went wrong. “Combine those two things and we lost more spots than we should have.
“Just had to fight back. Raced hard all day, just needed to keep a little better track position to give ourselves a chance or have a caution in there to bunch us all up. It seemed like whenever we would get the lead, the caution would come out and when we needed one, it didn’t.”
Over a 63-lap run to conclude the race, Berry made quick work of the competition, taking third position with 31 laps remaining, more than five seconds behind Blaney. While the No. 12 car caught lapped traffic and had to fend off Wallace, the No. 21 car cut the deficit quickly, but ultimately took the checkered flag in third position, 1.9 seconds short of triumph. He led a career-high 73 circuits.
“I was proud of the job we did today, managing the rain and different scenarios,” Berry stated. “It was a lot of fun. It was a blast managing all that stuff. I felt like we did a really good job, led a lot of laps and was up front. There’s not much more you can ask for.”
Dating back to a seventh-place effort at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Berry is amid a career-best stretch of four consecutive top-10 finishes. It’s the longest top-10 streak by a Wood Bros. driver since Morgan Shepherd had five straight in 1994.
“The last month has been great,” Miles Stanley, crew chief of the No. 21 bunch, said. “Quite a few top 10s in a row, the team is clicking well. We’ve all been motivated to get good results and do the best we can to turn the season around. The hard work is showing.
“The schedule has helped us, for sure. We got out of that snowball of some bad finishes that lead into the metric, putting you in a bad qualifying draw in Group 1. It’s been really solid results. It’s what we expected through more of the season going into the year.”
Berry made it known in mid-June that he would not be returning to the No. 21 ride for the 2027 season. He has been fighting for his career ever since, letting his opinions be known on the process. He hopes his talent has done the talking.
“You just watch the races. I don’t know what else you can say,” Berry said on what he’s proven over the last month of races. “I’ve been pretty honest about my feelings with how this stuff works. It just boils down to finding someone that believes in me that I can do this. Unfortunately, most of the time, it comes down to how much money you have to find opportunities. Hopefully, something is out there for me.”
Stanley believes his driver has done more than enough to earn another full-time Cup Series ride.
Stanley stated: “I think he’s proved that he’s capable of being a contender in a Cup car, and I think he deserves a Cup ride.”