Legendary Wood Brothers have always loved Bristol; will be riding momentum from Las Vegas victory as they approach Food City 500 in 75th season

By MIKE HEMBREE
Special to BristolMotorSpeedway.com

Wood Brothers Racing has won only one race at Bristol Motor Speedway, but the track means much more to NASCAR’s oldest active team than simply the location of one of its 101 Cup Series victories.

This past weekend Tennessee-native and new driver of the famed No. 21, Josh Berry, got the legendary NASCAR Cup Series team’s 75th Anniversary celebration off to a grand start by scoring the team’s first victory since Harrison Burton won the milestone 100th victory for the Virginia-based team last summer in Daytona. To add a little more champagne to the glass, the victory was also Berry’s first in NASCAR’s marquee division.

Berry, who held off Daniel Suarez in a final 20-lap run to the checkered flag at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, became the 20th different driver to win in a Wood Brothers Racing prepared racecar.

Berry says he feels at home with the Wood Brothers and crew chief Miles Stanley.

"They've been so good to me,” Berry said. “It's been a great relationship. Obviously, thank everybody at Wood Brothers Racing, but Team Penske as well. They've welcomed me with open arms and tried to help me and accelerate this learning process as much as I can. I really can't say enough for Miles Stanley. He is so good at what he's doing and we have a great thing going on together. He really believes in me."

It’s been a great pairing so far. Before the Vegas victory, Berry had posted two top-fives and two top-10s in five races to open the 2025 season. He now sits 13th in the points standings with a ticket punched to the Round of 16 Playoffs.

“It’s just tremendous the legacy they have in this sport," Berry said of the team that started in 1950. "It really is an honor just to get to drive the car, but let alone win a race and run like we have, like I said, it's far exceeded my expectations."

Now, with a victory under their belts the team can focus on some of the challenging upcoming races during the first half of the season, like Martinsville, Darlington and ultra-challenging Bristol Motor Speedway.

The Food City 500 at Bristol on April 11-13, is circled on the team’s calendar, one of their favorite stops each year and a special place in NASCAR lore.

Eddie Wood, one of the team’s co-owners, said his “real” introduction to racing came at Bristol, courtesy of his father, Glen, who founded the team. Eddie, then 15 years old, accompanied his father to the summer race at Bristol in 1967, riding along in the vehicle that towed the team’s famous No. 21 racer to the speedway. They drove through the crossover gate, then located in the second turn, and parked in the infield.

“Since I was out of school, I got to go to the race early with my dad,” Wood remembered. “Before we even unloaded anything, he said, ‘Let’s go. I’ve got some people I want you to meet.’ We walked from turn two over to turn four. And he introduced me to Richard Petty, Lee Petty, Dale Inman and Maurice Petty. They were the first four people in racing that I met. That was big. Richard and Lee shook hands with me. My dad had always told me to look people in the eye and shake their hands with a strong grip. I paid attention to that. I turned to Dale and he grabbed my hand and put me on my knees (Inman was famous for tremendous arm and hand strength). Then Chief (Maurice Petty) hit me in the chest and almost knocked me down. That was my introduction to the Pettys. And it was at Bristol.”

Over the years, Eddie and his younger brother, Len, would continue the strong bond the first generation of racing Woods had built with members of the Petty team. Despite the fact the two teams fought continuously on the track across the decades, they have remained the best of friends.

On that July day at Bristol, Richard Petty finished first and Cale Yarborough, the Wood Brothers’ driver, came home 33rd after an engine issue.

The Wood Brothers return to Bristol with Berry, a longtime well-known short track specialist, seeking to build on a team record at the half-mile track that includes one victory, 10-top fives and 27 top-10s.

Berry’s Las Vegas victory this past weekend shares some similarities with the Wood Brothers lone Bristol win.

On March 25, 2001, the team scored its lone win at BMS with driver Elliott Sadler. The victory was a landmark in many ways. It was the first Cup Series victory for the popular Virginia driver, and it was the team’s first Cup Series points win since 1993. Sadler and the team celebrated in victory lane with representatives of two new team sponsors – Motorcraft and the United States Air Force.

“I see some of those guys from Motorcraft and the Air Force, and they still remember that day,” Eddie Wood said. “It was big for all of us.”

The Wood team did not have a rosy start to the Bristol weekend. Sadler crashed the team’s primary car in Friday practice. He started the race 38th in the team’s backup Ford. To put it mildly, that car was not a favorite in the team’s stable of racers.

“That was chassis No. 38,” Eddie Wood said. “It was a car we had tested somewhere before. And we didn’t like it at all. In those days, when you came across a car like that that nobody liked, it became a backup. If you never had to use it, that would be OK.”

The team rescued the engine and the shock/spring package from the wrecked car, transferred them to the backup and turned Sadler loose for the 500-lap march around Bristol’s high banks.

Sadler raced around Kevin Harvick, Sterling Marlin, Jeff Gordon and Steve Park much of the afternoon and, in the race’s second half, found himself in prime position to challenge for the win. Crew chief Pat Tryson decided to skip a chance at a pit stop in the final 175 laps, keeping Sadler on the track in an attempt to stretch fuel and tires to the finish. The plan worked.

Sadler, who won two Xfinity Series races at Bristol, took the lead when Harvick, running his first season in the Cup Series, had a flat tire with 70 laps to go and gave up first place. The final 54 laps were run under green, and Sadler kept the No. 21 out front. He outran second-place John Andretti by .426 of a second to return the Woods to victory lane. Andretti, ironically, was driving the No. 43 for the Petty team. Jeremy Mayfield was third, Gordon fourth and Ward Burton fifth.

The 38th starting position had turned into gold for Sadler and the Woods. It was the farthest back for any winning driver at BMS.

"It's just a big day for me and a big day for the Wood Brothers," Sadler said after the race. "We had a terrible year last year, and everybody knows that. Instead of making changes behind the wheel, they stuck with me. So this means more than anything in the world. It's hard to win these Winston Cup races."

In victory lane, champagne flew everywhere, and there were a few tears.

“Together we’ve had a lot of hard times the last couple of years, and a lot of people doubted us,” Eddie Wood said. “We just kept believing in ourselves and in Elliott. So this is a deal I can’t really put into words what it means.”

A professional artist caught the moment of the finish on canvas, and that artwork now hangs in the Wood Brothers museum in Stuart, Virginia alongside hundreds of other items of importance in the team’s long and productive history.

“Elliott always liked that track,” Len Wood said. “I remember him saying, ‘Hey, I’m good here. I’m OK.’ It’s a hard track to pass on, especially if you have equal cars. But if you have a dominant car, you can run through it pretty quickly. That day Elliott was charged up. When you’re up front, it gives you more incentive.”

The Wood team had other close calls over the years at Bristol. Yarborough, a future Hall of Famer, had strong cars at BMS while driving for the Woods in the 1960s. He had two second-place runs, a third and a fourth in the No. 21. Among other drivers who raced for the Woods at Bristol: Marvin Panch, Kyle Petty, Dale Jarrett, Morgan Shepherd, Ricky Rudd, Bill Elliott and Ryan Blaney.

“I remember one race Cale was leading and running away with it and blew a tire with like 30 laps to go,” said Len Wood. “He knocked the wall down. Kyle Petty was good there. And Ricky Rudd. We ran really good there with Dale Jarrett. I remember one race when he broke a wheel. I looked up and his car came by and then the tire came by after it.”

In their 75th year, the Wood Brothers roll on at Bristol. And who knows, the way things are starting to develop with new driver Berry, perhaps another Bristol victory is just around the corner for the legendary team.

-BMS-

About the Author:  Journalist Mike Hembree is the author of “Petty vs. Pearson: The Rivalry That Shaped NASCAR,” scheduled to be published by Motorbooks in May.