Just a couple of months ago, Josh Berry was considered one of the lower tier drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series, by those who maybe had only watched the 2026 season up to that point.
The short-track phenom built his career by running up front and contending for wins, so this season was certainly foreign for him.
Even after winning Las Vegas in 2025, Berry’s first career NASCAR Cup Series victory, it was a downward spiral from there. The No. 21 team had the worst Playoff effort in recent memory, getting first rounded with no shot at all to advance after a handful of crashes and bad luck.
The Wood Brothers organization then started out this year the worst they ever had, with crashes and bad runs stretching all the way to July placing them 33rd in points.
The team would opt to announce they would be moving on from Berry at the end of the 2026 season, and putting Jesse Love in their famed vehicle for the foreseeable future.
This left Josh in a time of uncertainty, as there weren’t a lot of Cup Series rides available if he wanted to keep his Sunday career alive and not move back to the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, where even out there there may have not been many open seats for him.
So what did Berry do? He leaned forward and locked in.
Around the same time Team Penske, WBR’s affiliate, got their stuff together, so did the No. 21 team.
Berry finished seventh at Indianapolis, fourth at Iowa, eighth at Richmond, third at London, ninth at Daytona, and seventh at Darlington, marking six straight top-10 finishes, the MOST of ANY driver all season.
With this hot stream, team representatives and owners began to take notice. And it was LEGACY Motor Club that made the big move that nobody saw coming – releasing John Hunter Nemechek from his 2027 contract to sign Berry to a deal.
It’s a sports-like contractual move, where someone gets bought out or let go early based on performance, we just don’t see it a lot in the NASCAR world with how much money backs everything.
Spire Motorsports is one of the only teams as of recent to do this, where in 2024 they released Corey LaJoie well before seasons end and sent him to Rick Ware Racing, in a “trade” of sorts to acquire Justin Haley and put him in their No. 7 car for the rest of the year.
Will this type of move work out for LEGACY Motor Club? That remains to be found out. The team moves to three cars next season, which some argue has had pros and cons to a team like Front Row Motorsports when they expanded to three, but team owner Jimmie Johnson is adamant that this move will pay off in the long run.
Berry will join longtime No. 43 driver Erik Jones, and team newcomer Riley Herbst, who will be in the No. 84.