At least Josh Berry has some nice highlights to post on his LinkedIn page.
Because if you’re going to spend the final months of your NASCAR Cup Series career with a team that has already told you it won’t be taking you along for the ride, you might as well make the exit interesting.
Berry and the Wood Brothers announced in June that they would part ways at the end of the 2026 season. Since then, the lame-duck driver has apparently decided that if the relationship is going to end, he might as well leave a few fingerprints on the furniture.
Sunday at New Hampshire was his best effort yet.
Berry led 73 laps, battled Ryan Blaney for much of the middle portion of the race and finished third behind Blaney and Bubba Wallace. It was his best finish of the season and his fourth consecutive top-10 finish.
It should have been five, Berry noted, if not for getting wrecked at North Wilkesboro.
And therein lies the interesting part.
Berry insists nothing has changed.
He’s not preparing differently. He’s not studying differently. He’s not suddenly driving like Ayrton Senna after discovering a secret notebook under the Wood Brothers coffee machine.
The cars are simply better.
“I’m not doing anything different,” Berry said. “I’m not racing any different. The cars are better.”
Well, that certainly sounds reassuring.
Particularly if you’re Wood Brothers Racing and have already decided you’re going in a different direction next year.
Berry’s New Hampshire performance wasn’t some fluky stroll around the back of the field that accidentally ended with a trophy. He had one of the best cars in the place. He led the second-most laps, spent roughly 50 laps keeping Blaney behind him and looked for much of Stage 2 like the driver who was going to make a serious run at his second consecutive New Hampshire victory.
Eventually, Blaney got around him.
Berry wasn’t particularly surprised.
“Honestly, I thought he was a good bit better and I tried to help hold him off for a little bit,” he said. “I was surprised we were able to stay in front of him as long as we did.”
Berry eventually yielded the lead, made some adjustments and got back into the fight.
Then came the caution that changed the race.
Berry slid a little long entering his pit box, lost time on pit road and surrendered track position. In a race ultimately decided by a two-tire gamble, that’s roughly equivalent to voluntarily handing your opponent a loaded gun and asking him to stand closer.
Berry somehow fought his way back to third.
“I was surprised we were able to get back to third and get as close as we could to those guys,” he said. “I don’t know, we just needed to start a little closer.”
That has become something of a theme for Berry.
The results are suddenly there. The speed is there. The confidence is there.
And the timing is spectacularly inconvenient.
New Hampshire was his fourth consecutive top-10 finish, and Berry believes the performance isn’t some temporary flash of brilliance.
“We’ve had really good cars,” he said. “I mean, especially the last two years we’ve had really good cars.”
He also admitted he was a little more aggressive than usual Sunday.
Which is understandable when your future employer is no longer your current employer and there are only a handful of races left to make your case.
“Maybe I was a little rougher today than normal,” Berry said. “I don’t necessarily like racing like that, but these guys know what I’m up against right now.”
Translation: The résumé isn’t going to update itself.
Berry said he doesn’t believe that kind of driving is sustainable over an entire season, but that’s rather beside the point when you’re fighting for everything you can get in the final stretch of a season that has already decided your future.
“I’m doing the same things I’ve always done and we’ve just had better cars and, honestly, better luck,” he said. “It feels nice to capitalize on it.”
And that’s probably the most frustrating part of Berry’s 2026 season.
Maybe the driver didn’t suddenly become better in June.
Maybe the car finally did.
Unfortunately for Berry, the timing could hardly be worse.
So far, his reward for finally putting together the kind of performances he knows he’s capable of is a third-place finish, four straight top 10s and a rapidly approaching goodbye to the team that gave him his Cup Series opportunity.
Still, there are worse ways to conduct a farewell tour.
Especially if you’re updating LinkedIn.
Greg was a writer for DriveTribe supporting Amazon's The Grand Tour and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, and a Masters degree in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek and a regular contributor to Forbes.
- Bubba Wallace was one lockup away from stealing Ryan Blaney’s lobster - August 23, 2026
- Josh Berry is getting very good at being a lame duck - August 23, 2026
- Bubba Wallace had four tires but Ryan Blaney had the New Hampshire cheat code - August 23, 2026