Wood Brothers Racing ran its first Cup Series race in 1953 and is one of the oldest NASCAR teams to still remain active. Its colleagues, like Petty Enterprises or Yates Racing, shut businesses long ago. The team known to rock the #21 car was dominant in the 1960s through to the early 1980s. This was the time when NASCAR legends David Pearson (1972-1979) and Cale Yarborough (1968-1970) drove for the team. Post their time, the team lost its shine.

It was only in the 2024 regular-season penultimate race at Daytona when Harrison Burton unexpectedly took the checkered flag and gave WBR its 100th win. Before this, a win for the WBR came in 2017 by Ryan Blaney, and before that, in 2011 Trevor Bayne won the Daytona 500 for Wood Brothers. In fact, in the 21st century, those are their only wins! However, the long-struggling team is on a revamp journey as they are trying to bounce back in the 2025 season after recently signing Josh Berry.

Wood Brothers Racing changes crew chief

The 2024 Cup Series season for Stewart Haas Racing’s Josh Berry hasn’t been as he’d hoped. In the 34 races so far, he only managed two top-5s and 4 top 10s. For the 2025 season, the Tennessee native will replace Harrison Burton in the legendary #21 car. “When you think of the history and legacy of NASCAR, it’s hard to not think of the Wood Brothers and the incredible impact they’ve made on the sport. It’s an honor and a privilege to be a small part of carrying on that legacy. To be able to add my name to the list of drivers who have piloted the iconic No. 21 is something I don’t take lightly,” Berry had said post-signing with the team. While we know who’ll pilot the car, we don’t know who will be its crew chief next year.

With only three races remaining in the season, the WRB team has made a significant change. The #21’s current crew chief, Jeremy Bullins, has parted ways with the team, and Grant Hutchens, the lead engineer of the team, will act as the interim crew chief. Fox Sports’ Bob Pockrass took it to X to share the news quoting Penske, who is a technical alliance with WBR. Pockrass wrote, “Team Penske says Bullins is no longer with the organization and is pursuing other opportunities. “We respect his decision and wish him the best.”

This comes as a surprise since the Berry-Bullins pair could have achieved success in 2025. Bullins, a NASCAR veteran crew chief with a career spanning 32 years, has won 10 races, including the team’s 100th. Including Burton, he was the crew chief for Austin Cindric and also former cup champions Ryan Blaney, and Brad Keselowski. The veteran was also part of team Penske in the 2012 Xfinity Series. Wherein he bagged 21 wins in the series while calling the shots. While the veteran-youngster pair with Bullins and Burton did not work, it could have maybe been a different story with Josh Berry.

The 2022 Xfinity Series finalist has shown promise in NASCAR’s second-tier series. In only his two full seasons, he bagged 4 wins, 23 top 5s, and 39 top 10 finishes. The SHR driver also showed promise in his Cup debut this year, after getting three P3 finishes. At the Darlington spring race, the North Wilkesboro All-Star race, and at New Hampshire. Also on seven occasions in the Cup this year, he started in the top-5. In his racing career, he has also won 24 races in the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series and is also the 2020 series champion. Berry’s impressive runs in Late Model Stock Cars are well known, where he achieved 21 wins and became the champion in 2017.

While the history of one-driver teams in the Cup hasn’t been motivating, the 34-year-old can prove it to be otherwise. It’s no secret that a successful crew chief is just as important as a successful driver, a prime example of this being Joey Logano. Paul Wolfe’s fuel mileage strategy is what has led the two-time champ into the championship 4 yet again. As of now, nothing official has come from WBR on Berry’s partner in 2025. However, before deciding that, Berry needs to end the 2024 season on a high note, and next up is Homestead Miami.

Josh Berry on the Homestead Miami race

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While this would be Berry’s debut Cup race at Homestead, he has raced there before in the Xfinity Series, getting a 10th-place finish in 2021 and an 11th-place finish in 2022. So the Tennessee native is well aware of the notorious nature of the track. In a press conference ahead of the race, Berry discussed how he plans to overcome the challenges at the track.

He said, “Being able to run the top lane and be accurate on where you drive in the corners has definitely been the best way to get around Homestead and does require a lot of focus and commitment to do so. Being up at the top and driving so close to the wall allows you to maintain speed over a longer run, but that comes with the risk of getting into the wall so it’s just a really fine balancing act with small margins. The guys who can focus and hit their marks will have a better shot of running up front all day.”

The 1.5-mile track is a one-of-a-kind racetrack, where the fall-off is usually high and the racing is mostly up against the fence. Drivers require smooth maneuvers throughout the race to bag good finishes, as it can be challenging to maintain track position. “Honestly, the change in the grip level over the course of the run was something that stood out to me. We all know it gets slicked out, but going there for the first time and feeling it from the driver’s seat is just something you can’t prepare for in the sim or from trying to compare it to other tracks, I have said it all season, there is nothing that beats seat time and going to Homestead, where the track changes pretty dramatically, is paramount,” Berry added.

With Homestead fast approaching, who do you think will dominate the race? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.