Ford Racing Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Ford Racing Media Availability — The Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium
Wednesday, January 28, 2026
Josh Berry, driver of the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang Dark Horse, will be starting his second season behind the wheel for Wood Brothers Racing when the Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium kicks off the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season. Berry answered questions from the media about this weekend’s scheduled event, along with his hopes for the new year.
JOSH BERRY, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang Dark Horse – HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE NEW FORMAT? “I think it will be interesting to see if things change with how people race and how they think and how it evolves throughout the season. Obviously, consistency is going to be more important, which I don’t think is necessarily a bad thing. I’m excited. I think it makes each race mean that much more and that’s what they’re trying to accomplish, so it should be fun.”
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE TRAJECTORY OF YOUR TEAM GOING INTO YEAR TWO WITH WBR? “I’m excited for it. 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. You go back to the points format, that’s gonna be more important, but, overall, I feel good. 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 offseason 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.”
ARE YOU COMFORTABLE WITH THE NEW DIGITAL DASH YET? “I didn’t notice too much of a change. It’s got some LED lights that could be used to shift lights if you wanted to, but, overall, I feel like it’s pretty similar. It seems like it works quicker, faster. It’s better quality, so, overall, I think it’s all good and really I haven’t experienced any issues. We ran pit road a couple times (at the NWS test) just practicing that and felt good about everything. Overall, I feel like it’s ready to go.”
SNOW IS A POTENTIAL ISSUE THIS WEEKEND. HAVE YOU HEARD ANYTHING IN REGARDS TO WHAT NASCAR IS THINKING AND IF THIS HAS TO BE RESCHEDULED TO A LATER DATE? “No, I haven’t. I think we’re all kind of in the same scenario, just waiting to see what they’re thinking going forward. I would say that’s probably a possibility in looking at the forecast. I think they’re just probably waiting for it to get a little closer and get a better idea of what the weather is looking like before they make a decision. For us, we’re planning on racing.”
HOW MUCH INTERACTION HAVE YOU HAD WITH STEVE O’DONNELL AND HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE HIS LEADERSHIP STYLE? “I haven’t honestly had a lot of dealings with him. I’ve obviously been part of some of those meetings when he’s been around, but I really don’t have an opinion one way or another, honestly.”
WHEN YOU LOOK AT LAST SEASON HOLISTICALLY, ARE THERE CERTAIN AREAS OF EXECUTION YOU FEEL YOU NEED TO WORK ON TO BE BETTER? “I think we sat down early in the offseason and kind of broke it down and looked at each race. 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.”
IS YOUR CONFIDENCE HIGHER KNOWING THAT YOU DON’T HAVE TO REACCLIMATE YOURSELF TO A NEW TEAM OR NEW CREW MEMBERS? “Yeah, I think so. I think it helps put us in a better spot. Obviously, the last couple of years in the Cup Series have been with two different organizations, and now going back to this and having the same group, the same crew chief, the same engineers, really the same everybody, so it just kind of builds more fluidity. It doesn’t feel like you’re starting over and learning each other as much. It’s made the offseason maybe go a little bit longer, maybe a little bit more refreshing because you’re not doing as much random things that you have to check off in the offseason. I’m excited for it. I feel like me and Miles (Stanley) have had a really good relationship and now Miles is going into his second year as a crew chief as well, so I know he’s only gonna keep getting better, so I feel like we’re poised to have a really strong year.”
DO YOU THINK WITH THE NEW HORSEPOWER PACKAGE ON THE SHORT TRACKS THAT YOU HAVE A CHANCE TO WIN MORE RACES? “Yeah. Obviously, the short tracks I feel like we had good performance. That was probably our strongest last year. I think that it will be interesting to see how the horsepower package changes things, but, ultimately, yeah, we feel strong on the short tracks. We’re on board with the power change. I think it will be a good thing for racing, and I feel like we can go out and win at short tracks every time we go there.”
HOW DOES THE COMBINATION OF TEMPERATURES THIS WEEKEND AND A SHORT TRACK AFFECT YOUR PREPARATIONS? “The weather is gonna be interesting to follow, obviously, from just the schedule side of things and how much track time we get or don’t get and if that becomes a factor. I think the biggest thing is prioritizing getting heat in your tires early in runs, early in practice and obviously qualifying. That’s the biggest thing that stands out when it’s cold like this is just making more of an effort to do that, but, really, inside the car it doesn’t change too much outside of that.”
THIS WILL BE YOUR SECOND DAYTONA 500 WITH WBR. WHAT’S THE PRESSURE LIKE RACING FOR A TEAM WITH THE HISTORY THEY HAVE THERE? “Obvoiusly, they’ve had a great history there and it’s a race that we all as drivers put pressure on ourselves to go out and perform well and hopefully compete for the win. It’s the biggest race of the year and obviously being a part of the Wood Brothers and Team Penske, their cars have always been really strong at those races and being able to capitalize on that is something that’s obviously really important to us, so hopefully we can go do that and avoid all the trouble to be there at the end and give ourselves a shot at it.”
THE WIN AND IN COMPONENT IS GONE THIS YEAR. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THAT BECAUSE YOUR WIN AT VEGAS LAST YEAR WAS LIFE CHANGING? “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. 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 gonna be a lot of storylines evolve throughout the season and as that changes, relying on consistency a little bit more is probably gonna 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.”
WHAT IS ONE SPECIFIC WAY YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE NASCAR CONTINUE SUPPORTING GRASSROOTS TRACKS LIKE BOWMAN GRAY, AND DO YOU SEE ROOM FOR ROTATING EVENTS LIKE THE CHASE TO OTHER TRACKS LIKE NEW SMYRNA OR HICKORY OR THE NASHVILLE FAIRGROUNDS? “Yeah, definitely. I think they’re off to a great start with the investment they made into Bowman Gray and SMI with North Wilkesboro as well. That’s a great starting point, and I think there is definitely room with this exhibition Clash that we can go around to some different places like the ones you mentioned and make an investment in there and improve their facilities and bring a really big event there, so I think that’s the biggest thing to continue to do is support these tracks. I think it would be really cool to kind of see this race evolve into traveling to a few different short tracks every couple of years. That would make for some good stories.”
OUTSIDE OF LAS VEGAS, IS THERE A SPECIFIC TRACK OR WEEKEND YOU’RE LOOKING FORWARD TO IN 2026? “Yeah, I think there are a lot of them. I think there are a lot of places where we were really strong last year. I obviously love going to Martinsville, a lot of the short tracks – Phoenix, Richmond we were really good at. It was a little bit different on a few of the intermediates. We had some really good speed at a couple of them, but missed it at a couple of them, too. I think generally that all of the short tracks are gonna be a really good opportunity for us to run really well and hopefully get a win.”
