AVONDALE, Ariz.—After crashing out of the first two NASCAR Cup races of the 2025 season, followed by a 26th-place finish at Circuit of the Americas, Josh Berry sorely needed a solid weekend at Phoenix Raceway.
In his first season behind the wheel of the iconic No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford—and his second full-time opportunity on stock car’s brightest stage—the 34-year-old racer delivered the most consistent performance of his 52-race Cup career.
While qualifying fourth and finishing fourth might not be a big deal to the A-listers on the tour, leading the charge for Ford Performance on Sunday was certainly a step in the right direction for Berry.
“I am really proud of everyone on this 21 team and thank you to (sponsor) eero for coming on board,” Berry said. “Our car was really solid. It wasn’t mistake-free. We had an issue on pit road with the left rear (tire), but Miles (Stanley, crew chief) did a great job of getting us backed up there and getting the wheel tight.”
The Wood Brothers’ alliance with Team Penske provides Berry with a wealth of resources—including crew chief Miles Stanley, a former Penske engineer who was selected to oversee Berry’s efforts.
Berry was second only to second-place qualifier Joey Logano in the Ford camp in time trials. On Sunday, Berry scored the fourth most points for the day (39) after finishing sixth in Stage 1 and 10th in the second stage.
The team’s sole hiccup came during the fourth caution (Lap 92) pit stops. Berry fell to 29th but regained 10 spots after taking evasive action to miss an 11-car wreck ahead of him on the restart. Over the next 74 laps, en route to the second stage end, Berry passed an additional nine cars to finish 10th.
Through four more cautions in the final stage, Berry put his short-track skills on display to claim his first top five of the season.
“We had some really good restarts,”Berry said. “We had one toward the end that didn’t go our way, but pretty much every one of them we were able to move forward and fight and claw. It is a credit to everyone on the 21 team and Ford and Wood Brothers Racing and Team Penske. It was a lot of fun.”
It’s not surprising that the former Late Model champion’s best run of the year would come on the shortest track in his first four starts of the season. His previous three top-five results were earned at tracks of 1.366-miles or shorter.
Berry finished second in the Last Chance Qualifier at Bowman Gray Stadium and came from 22nd to finish 13th in the Cook Out Clash exhibition race on Feb. 2. He led career-best 56 laps at Atlanta Motor Speedway before being swept up in an eight-car wreck.
Prior to Sunday, Berry’s best result at Phoenix was 10th in a Hendrick Motorsports-prepared Chevrolet.
“Yeah, I am just honestly so excited. This race track was pretty tough for me last year, and these guys have great cars, without a doubt here. That was proven again today, and we executed pretty solidly and were able to get a good finish, which is really fun.”
Berry vaulted from 32nd to 21st in the series standings with Sunday’s result. This weekend, the tour moves to 1.5-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where Berry scored two of his five NASCAR Xfinity Series wins.
“I felt like myself again,” Berry said. “It’s amazing what you can do when the car is handling like that. It was really solid and staying underneath me. I am super proud of these guys.”
Follow Lee Spencer on Twitter @CandiceSpencer or email her at [email protected].
