TC Daily Pit Stop: Josh Berry Joins Wood Brothers Racing for 2025; Burton Accepts Tough Day; Fenhaus Adding Truck Starts with ThorSport; Mid-Week Short Track Highlights
TC Daily Pit Stop: Thursday, July 4, 2024
Josh Berry Joins Historic Wood Brothers Racing Team for 2025 Cup Campaign
Current NASCAR Cup Series rookie Josh Berry is set to join forces with Wood Brothers Racing, one of NASCAR’s longest-running and most historic organizations, for a full-time campaign in 2025.
The organization officially announced the acquisition of Berry on Wednesday in a press conference held at the Ford Performance Technical Center in Concord, North Carolina. The deal is said to be a multi-year contract, and the team has announced they will continue to receive support from longtime partner Ford Motorcraft / Quick Lane.
“It’s a multiyear deal as long as I run good, and I don’t plan on running bad,” Berry quipped during the official press announcement on Wednesday.
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Analysis: Josh Berry Has Earned the Right to Stay Full-Time in the Cup Series
Heading into the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season, many were unsure how Josh Berry would perform. I know I was one of them. The 33-year-old was a bit long in the tooth for a rookie by modern-day NASCAR Cup Series standards, and he would be heading to a team — Stewart-Haas Racing — which had been a sinking ship over the last few seasons. The latter was the biggest reason to feel worried for him.
Still, he performed admirably in fill-in roles at Hendrick Motorsports when Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman suffered injuries in 2023, and he would have one of the smartest crew chiefs in the game calling the shots for him in Rodney Childers, so there was a chance that Berry could contend out of the box.
What the driver has done this season in his rookie campaign solidified his footing in the NASCAR Cup Series. And when Stewart-Haas Racing announced in May that the team would be closing its doors at season’s end, it started to become clearer and clearer over the last couple of months that Berry not only earned his right to remain in the NASCAR Cup Series, he became one of the top free agent choices.
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Harrison Burton Accepts Tough Day Graciously: ‘That’s Business’
At the end of perhaps the most disappointing day of his professional racing career, Harrison Burton was able to graciously accept the decision made by his current Wood Brothers Racing team to acquire Josh Berry as the driver of the No. 21 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season.
At 4:38 PM ET, Burton issued a statement via a video on his social media channels, where he addressed the news that he will not return to the Wood Brothers Racing team next season after three full-time years at the helm of that ride. While Burton, 23, says that Wednesday’s news isn’t the news that any race car driver ever wants, he understands the business and why the move had to be made.
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Luke Fenhaus Returns to ThorSport for Two Additional NASCAR Truck Starts
Luke Fenhaus, who made his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut for ThorSport Racing in the No. 66 Ford F-150 earlier this season at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, will officially add two more events to his schedule this season with the team.
On Wednesday, ThorSport Racing confirmed that the 20-year-old short track standout will return for the upcoming races at Pocono Raceway on July 12 and Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park on August 11. Fenhaus will once again pilot the No. 66 Ford F-150 with primary sponsorship from Soda Sense.
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Flood Brothers Disposal Backing Alex Labbe, SS-GreenLight Racing at Chicago
Alex Labbe. the 2017 NASCAR Canada Series Champion, will make a return to the driver’s seat this weekend in the NASCAR Xfinity Series as he is set to pilot the No. 07 Chevrolet Camaro for SS-GreenLight Racing. Labbe was revealed as one of the 43 drivers on the entry list for The Loop 110 Chciago Street Race on Monday.
On Wednesday, the team and Labbe revealed Oakbrook Terrace, IL-based Flood Brothers Disposal as the primary sponsorship partner for the effort. The family-owned and operated company is excited to dip its toe into NASCAR in the second-annual NASCAR Xfinity Series Street Race in Chicago.
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MID-WEEK SHORT TRACK NEWS/HIGHLIGHTS:
Joey Doiron Wins Inaugural Celebration of America 300 at Oxford Plains
On Wednesday night at Oxford Plains Speedway, there was no denying Joey Doiron.
Doiron powered to the lead on a lap 266 restart and held off Derek Griffith to win the All That’s Metal Celebration of America 300, earning a $40,000 payday in the holiday spectacular.
Doiron, already a winner this season with the Pro All Stars Series (PASS) Super Late Models at Oxford Plains, knew he had a car capable of winning the inaugural edition of the Celebration of America. He simply hoped he could seal the deal, considering how elusive the Oxford 250 has been for him over the years.
Kyle Busch was competing in the event and was running in fourth-place late in the event when he got turned around. Daniel Hemric finished 21st, while Busch ended up 24th.
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Brent Crews, Tristan McKee Score Dramatic Wins in CARS Tour Firecracker 265 at Caraway
The zMAX CARS Tour provided plenty of drama and excitement on Wednesday night at Caraway Speedway. Both divisions saw dramatic finishes, with Brent Crews winning in the Late Model Stock Cars and Tristan McKee winning the Pro Late Model 100-lapper.
Corey Heim, a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series regular, was the center of attention for a period of time during the Late Model Stock Car event, after his No. 55 got tipped onto its side on the frontstrech, before landing on his roof, where he hung upside down for quite some time.
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