One of the first dominoes to fall during the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series silly season fell when Wood Brothers Racing announced that Josh Berry will not be returning for what would have been a third season behind the wheel of the No. 21 Ford next year, instead opting to replace him with current Richard Childress Racing O'Reilly Auto Parts Series driver Jesse Love.
During the two and a half months that have passed by since that announcement, Berry was thought to have no future in the Cup Series, but amid a recent streak of top nine finishes, the likes of which not seen by any Wood Brothers Racing driver in more than half a century, he is expected to remain at NASCAR's top level in 2027.
Legacy Motor Club, despite planning to expand from two to three cars for the 2027 season, have opted not to retain John Hunter Nemechek behind the wheel of the No. 42 Toyota.
Erik Jones is expected to remain behind the wheel of the No. 43 car, and Riley Herbst remains the top candidate to drive the third car after losing his ride with fellow Toyota team 23XI Racing to development driver Corey Heim.
But it's Berry who is reportedly a leading candidate to replace Nemechek, amid his current hot streak.
The move, of course, will raise some eyebrows. After Nemechek was the lowest full-time driver in the 2024 standings in his first year at Legacy Motor Club, he finished just one point behind Jones with a nine-position jump in the 2025 standings.
And while he's seven spots behind Jones in the 2026 standings, with just two top 10 finishes, he's still ahead of Berry (27th vs. 28th), even amid Berry's five-race streak of top nine finishes, which has seen him post an average finish of 6.2 after he had only recorded two top 10 finishes, and none since March, himself.
Not only is Berry is also nearly six years old than Nemechek, but he's 28th in the point standings in a de facto fourth Team Penske car, while the three Penske drivers all qualified for this year's "Chase" postseason.
Ryan Blaney won three times during the regular season, Joey Logano won twice, and Austin Cindric, despite past criticism as a "win and in merchant", managed to lock in on points.
That said, Berry getting another shot at the Cup level would be a welcome sign that just because certain driver lineup decisions are confirmed for the following year even before the halfway point of the current season, strong late-season performance still has the ability to influence key decisions elsewhere throughout the garage, which is how it should be.
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