NASCAR: SHR driver not writing off the driver he's set to replace

Stewart-Haas Racing recently announced that they are set to shut down at the end of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season, an announcement that left all four of their current drivers looking for new rides for 2025.

Three of those four drivers have already found new rides for next year, including rookie Josh Berry. Berry, who replaced Kevin Harvick behind the wheel of the No. 4 Ford this year, is set to replace Harrison Burton at Wood Brothers Racing behind the wheel of the No. 21 Ford next season.

Wood Brothers Racing have been seeking their 100th Cup Series victory for the last seven-plus years. Their most recent trip to victory lane came in June 2017, when Ryan Blaney got them their 99th win at Pocono Raceway. At the time, they had not won in over six years.

Wood Brothers stuck at 99 wins

Blaney, Paul Menard, Matt DiBenedetto, and Burton have all had the opportunity to achieve that elusive 100th victory for the team, but none of them have been able to do it in the 259 races that been contested since.

Asked about the possibility of being the driver to secure that milestone win for the team next year, Berry made sure to point out that Burton still has 15 chances left.

"Yeah, I think..." Berry told Beyond the Flag, before a brief pause. "Really simply – at this point, obviously, they have racing to do this year as well, so we can't discount that."

Burton is not a driver whom many fans would consider a contender to win Cup Series races. He finished in 27th place in the point standings as a rookie in 2022 and has only dropped since, finishing in 31st last year. Through 21 races this year, he sits in 33rd with a top finish of only 10th, which was just his fifth career top 10 finish.

But stranger things have happened, and Burton has found himself at the sharp end of the field in a couple races over the last three seasons. His best two finishes this year notably both came at superspeedways, and three of this season's final 15 races are set to be run at such venues.

Even though Burton is not really considered a threat, Berry is not taking anything for granted, and he knows that Wood Brothers Racing are not guaranteed to still be sitting at 99 wins when he arrives.

The fact that he has enough respect to acknowledge that Burton still has a chance speaks volumes, and it really helps to keep things in perspective. It's also a great mentality to have as he prepares to move forward to his new team next year.

"They've been on 99 wins since 2017, and they're making an investment and want to get better, want to get more competitive, and they want to win that 100th race," Berry continued.

Though he knows that the opportunity to go for win number 100 is not a sure thing, Berry admitted that it would be cool if he ends up being the driver to deliver it.

"That pretty much is the goal at this point," he said. "The Wood Brothers have been around, next year will be their 75th year, and they want to check that box pretty badly.

"That's definitely the biggest goal, and obviously for me, that aligns with my goal, because I want to win in the Cup Series, and if we were able to do that together, that would be really special."

And, of course, Berry knows that he still has 15 races left to run for Stewart-Haas Racing as well.

"I'm definitely really proud of the effort that we put together over the last couple months amidst everything going on around us, to bang out a lot of really good finishes over the course of that," he said.

"We've been getting better, week in and week out. It's been up and down, but ultimately this is my first full season racing Cup cars, so with a new team, I think that those kinds of things are going to take time to establish consistency.

"But overall, I've been really happy with the speed we've had several weeks, and hopefully we can continue that in the second half of the season. ... Looking forward to finishing the year out, and then we'll go after it again next year with a new team."

He admits that having his 2025 plans announced has helped to ease a bit of the pressure that might have existed earlier in the year, as the rumors of Stewart-Haas Racing's eventual shutdown made the rounds.

"I think it does help a little bit," he admitted. "I feel like over the last couple months, obviously, we were really, all of us as a group, were racing kind of for our jobs, in a way. So to have some of that stuff figured out eases that just a little bit. I think you can go back to focusing on your preparation and your racing and the race car and race team a little bit more than some of the stuff on the outside.

"But ultimately when you're racing at the Cup level, it's like all sports. You always have the pressure to perform well for your race team and for the partners on your car. So really nothing's changed in that aspect, but it is kind of nice to have our plans figured out."

Given where he sits in the point standings, Berry knows that he likely needs to win a regular season race in order to qualify for the playoffs. But he believes that he and the No. 4 team should have multiple opportunities to do exactly that over the course of the regular season's final five races.

"I think this weekend is going to be interesting for sure, going to Indianapolis," he said. "I haven't raced on the oval in Indianapolis, I've only run the road course the last couple years, so it's going to be a little bit more of a challenge.

"Looking at [the schedule], after our break, we go to Richmond. I feel like that's probably one of my best tracks. I think it's a really strong track for the No. 4 car. We ran there in the spring and finished 11th but spent a lot of time in the top three, top five, so I think that that's one that we definitely have circled. That could be a great opportunity for us."

Though he would like to make it into the 16-driver postseason field as a rookie, Berry acknowledged that securing his first career win during the playoffs, even as a non-playoff driver, would be just as special.

"Yeah, for sure," he said. "I think that would be a huge deal, and we've seen that over the years happen from time to time, that guys outside the playoffs can obviously still win in the playoffs and are still very much in contention throughout that process.

"The reality of it is there are a lot of good teams and experienced drivers who are kind of right on that edge or outside of the playoff cutoff right now, so overall, I'm not too overly disappointed with where we're at, with that being my first season.

"I think that we still have a lot of opportunities coming up, and it's most definitely going to take a win from our side. But I feel like we've been in contention several races, and I think we can do it."