Josh Berry looking for consistency more than speed in 2026 Cup season

On one hand, the 2025 season was a success for Josh Berry, in that it produced his first Cup Series victory and for the Wood Brothers no less. On the other hand, there were also stretches where a lot was left on the table and left them wondering what could have been.

Specifically, the iconic No. 21 was amongst the fastest in the entire field in the first round of the playoffs, but Berry also suffered through three consecutive last place finishes en route to an abrupt elimination.

Berry started third in the Southern 500 but bottomed out on the first lap and spun into the wall. The next week at Gateway, he was spun by Chase Elliott running near the front of the field and then caught fire from tire rubber build-up in the Bristol Night Race.

But again, they won a race in their first season working together, and showed the potential for what could be a successful combination in the years to come.

“I’m excited for it,” Berry said on Wednesday during a Wednesday media availability. “I agree that there were a lot of positives in our performance last year. There were plenty of races where the finish didn’t indicate the type of day we had, so that’s been our focus is looking through some of that stuff and trying to figure out what we could do better and put ourselves in better positions to get the finishes we deserve. …

“This is really the first year since I’ve been in Cup or Xfinity that I’ve really had the same group two years in a row. That made the off-season feel different since I’ve already been working with these guys and knowing them, and not establishing that communication, so I think that should be a positive as well and we’re ready to get to the Clash.”

Josh Berry, Wood Brothers Racing Ford

With the pace and performance there, not to mention having cars that come out of the Team Penske shop, Berry views 2026 more about execution than finding speed. After all, that is what derailed their championship run, but also costing them the chance at another couple of wins.

“I think we sat down early in the offseason and kind of broke it down and looked at each race,” Berry said. “It’s a number of things. It’s issues on pit road. There were a couple of speeding penalties over the course of the year. Obviously, that stuff you have to clean up. Issues on pit road with penalties. Mechanical problems. We had a couple of those along the way.

“I think the biggest thing is just looking at the decision-making towards getting to these races maybe is the biggest thing. I think you’re better off to take a top 10 than maybe put yourself in a bad spot that could result in it, but, honestly, the key to that is not something that I don’t think any of us really know. Obviously, you’ve got to go out and race hard and fight for every spot, and just kind of learning with experience and trying to make sure we get the finishes we deserve. But the biggest thing, I think, is just limiting your mistakes. Like I said, we had a handful of those over the course of the year and hopefully we can clean those up and get the finishes we should.”

The consistency will need to be there, because unlike the win and in you’re in championship format, simply winning a race will not be enough to finish inside the top-16. The Chase for the Championship will require finishing top-16 in points by the end of the regular season.

“I think that obviously it’s a different format, but first time winners and first wins in this sport have always been something that are really popular and make for great stories,” Berry said. “There’s no reason that the playoff format changing should change the feeling that you get from when you have a first-time winner or an underdog story type of deal – kind of like we were last year. Now it doesn’t include an automatic berth into the playoffs or the Chase, but it’s still a great story. There are going to be a lot of storylines evolve throughout the season and as that changes, relying on consistency a little bit more is probably going to put the best guys in the Chase at the end of the year. As a team, we feel a little more pressure going into this knowing that we’ve got to execute week in and week out and, to me, that’s not a bad thing.”