Kyle Petty has long been a close observer of NASCAR; after all, he was born into the sport and been around it all his life. And he has opinions, which he is not afraid to express even if they make some people uncomfortable.
Recently, Petty made some waves when he took a shot at Josh Berry, a nose-to-the-grindstone kind of guy who was just fired by the Wood brothers.
Berry, Petty said, deserved to be fired because he wasn’t producing on the track and up-and-coming youngster Jesse Love, the 2025 O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Champ who drove Chevys for Richard Childress, was a better long term option.
Possibly. But there are many in the garage who feel Berry is being blamed for something that is not his fault. They see Berry as a talented driver who is being aged out of Cup (he will be 36 in Oct) because he couldn’t get good results in a bad car.
Commenting on X, former crew chief Rodney Childers, who won the 2014 Cup championship with driver Kevin Harvick, defended Berry by repeating a truism that is originally attributed to Harvick. “You can’t drive a slow car fast,” Harvick remarked.
And Berry has been in nothing but slow, uncompetitive cars his entire career. His best – and probably only – shot at getting something better came when Stewart-Haas collapsed and he and Chase Briscoe were the mainstays of the team.
There was an opening at Joe Gibbs Racing, one of Cup’s few elite organizations, and Briscoe, with three more years of Cup experience than Berry plus a pair of Southern 500 wins at Darlington, got it.
Berry cycled over to the Wood brothers, a much better team on paper than they are on the track because their cars are built by Penske. Despite that, the Wood brothers have never been able to seal the deal. They aren’t competitive, except on superspeedways where anybody can win, and their results prove it.
Berry is, by far, the best driver the Wood brothers have had in their car since 2017, when Ryan Blaney drove it. In 2025, Berry put the Wood brothers in victory lane when he won at Las Vegas.
That’s the first time the Wood brothers have won on a track other than a superspeedway since Blaney did it at Pocono in 2017. Berry recently ran off a string of three top 10 finishes in a row, and nobody has done that in a Wood brothers car since Morgan Shepherd had four in 1994.
And nobody, except Blaney, has led more laps for the Wood brothers over the past 10 years then Berry. In his two years with the Wood brothers, 2016-17, Blaney led 312 laps, 39 of which were on superspeedways, giving him a total of 273 on regular tracks.
Including 2025 and with 11 races still left in the 2026 season, Berry has led 298 laps. Ninety-five of those were on superspeedways, giving him a total of 203 and counting on regular tracks.
So clearly, Berry has gotten a lot out of the Wood brothers car, more than almost all of his predecessors. Beyond that, he has proven himself in first class equipment when given the chance.
Out of a Cup ride, Berry was driving in the Infinity Series for JR Motorsports in 2023 when Hendrick Motorsports signed him to replace Chase Elliott, who had been injured in a snowboarding accident.
It is extremely difficult to move into another driver’s seat with an unfamiliar crew chief and team, let alone do it at a place like Hendrick, but Berry proved up to it.
He ran five races for Elliott and had two top 10s including a second at Richmond. Later, Hendrick brought him back to replace Alex Bowman, who had a bad back, and Berry ran three races for him with a top 10 at Dover. He also won the Open qualifier which got him into the All-Star race. So he has produced under pressure.
In his last time out for the Wood brothers, Berry led 73 laps at New Hampshire, finished third, and might have won except for a slow pit stop. He won’t have many more opportunities like that, though.
The clock is ticking for Berry. When this year ends, his Cup career may end as well because there is no place for him to go. No good rides, no bad rides, no rides anywhere.
There was some thought he might end up at Richard Childress Racing, which is in worse shape than the Wood brothers, but Childress is bringing back Austin Hill so that’s out.
“Everybody knows the situation I’m in right now,” Berry said after New Hampshire according to NASCAR’s website. “All these guys I’m racing with right now have a lot of respect for me. I think they understand the situation I’m in.”
It’s frustrating, because Berry deserves better. But like Harvick said, you can’t drive a slow car fast. And unfortunately, no one gave Berry a chance in a fast car.
NASCAR NOTES
No race this week. Old Guy Sport does not count superspeedways (Atlanta, Daytona, Talladega) in its standings because anybody can win on those tracks. NASCAR has made some rule changes which might make the racing there competitive again so that will be something to watch.
