To say Harrison Burton’s tenure within the NASCAR Cup Collection has been tough can be an enormous understatement.
5 top-10 finishes and a greatest factors end of twenty seventh had been all Burton needed to present for his Cup Collection profession by means of his first 97 begins, however that each one modified on Saturday at Daytona.
Burton lined up second for the race’s closing restart, and with two-time Cup Collection champion Kyle Busch to his inside, he had a tall process in entrance of him if he needed to interrupt by means of for his first Cup Collection win.
Hollywood could not have scripted it any higher: With a push from Parker Retzlaff on the ultimate lap, Burton charged in entrance of Busch and held on to say his first Cup Collection victory.
It is poetic that Burton’s Cup Collection profession started with a flip at Daytona in 2022, and now, the primary chapter of it’ll finish with a victory on the similar monitor. After all, there are nonetheless 11 races — together with a possible playoff run — remaining for Burton, however with Josh Berry already confirmed to be driving the No. 21 automotive in 2025, Burton continues to be on the hunt for a brand new trip.
One win at a superspeedway does not take away from a scarcity of general outcomes, nevertheless it does show that Burton does have an asset that is important in modern-day NASCAR: having the ability to win below stress when the chips are down.
Burton’s victory now offers him an opportunity to make a Cinderella championship run, nevertheless it additionally marks the one hundredth win for the storied Wooden Brothers. Most significantly, maybe, it ensures a payout of at the least $3M for the group over the subsequent three years, permitting the group’s executives to chill out barely concerning the group’s monetary state of affairs.
Burton might have practically run out of time with the Wooden Brothers, however at simply 23 years outdated, there’s loads of time for Burton to regroup and start a brand new chapter of his NASCAR profession.
Along with his win on Saturday night time, it simply turned much more doubtless that the plot of that new chapter will happen within the Cup Collection, the place it appears — in the meanwhile, at the least — the second-generation driver belongs.
