DARLINGTON, S.C.: Boasting a throwback paint scheme to his father’s Jeff Burton successful days at Roush Fenway Racing, Harrison Burton capitalized on a strong weekend with his Wood Brothers Racing team and captured a much welcomed top-10 finish in Sunday’s Goodyear 400 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway.
Burton’s sophomore season in the NASCAR Cup Series for the legendary team has been filled with mixed results at best – but tackling one of his favorite race tracks on the schedule and showcasing the same speed he displayed last weekend at Kansas Speedway, Burton was able to put together a race from start to finish with a solid sixth-place finish.
With an average finish of 28.7 entering Darlington, Burton’s No. 21 DEX Imaging Ford Mustang was able to maintain a steady pace Sunday afternoon taking the green flag from 14th — his best start of the season.
He quickly moved forward and ran in the top-10 for a time before ending the first 90-lap stage in 11th place.
He fell back a bit in the second stage after a slow pit stop and ended that 90-lap segment in 18th place. Burton recovered and was back in the top-15 by Lap 210. Later, he avoided an eight-car melee in Turn 2 on Lap 281 to maneuver back inside the top-10.
Restarting seventh on the Lap 288 restart, Burton was able to avoid the two-car collision of leaders Ross Chastain and Kyle Larson to position himself inside the top-five for the two-lap shootout.
On the restart, Burton was under attack from Bubba Wallace who took the fifth-position from the Wood Brothers Racing driver on the penultimate lap in Turn 3.
With the white flag waving, the Mooresville, N.C.-native was able to fend off challengers Kyle Busch, Justin Haley and Ryan Blaney to claim his first top-10 finish since finishing third on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Couse last July.
After the race, Burton said the recent speed in their race cars was carrying the team in the right direction.
“I felt like we kind of just bounced around 15th after we lost the top 10 track position early on pit road,” explained Burton. “That was a mixture of my fault and the pit crew, so it’s kind of nice we got the last caution and it was a chance for both of us to redeem ourselves and felt like we did that and got a decent finish out of it.
“I’m really proud of the DEX Imaging Ford Mustang guys and the Wood Brothers. It was a fast car. I mean, it felt relative to our alliance teammates at Team Penske. That’s been our goal as of late is to try and run with those guys and, relative to them, we were right there. It’s a good day for us and something to build on.”
31st in Cup points entering the first of two Cup races at the 1.33-egg-shaped oval, Burton’s third career top-10 finish lifted him to 30th heading to the Cup Series All-Star race at North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway on May 21.
13 races into the season, Burton said his result at the track dubbed “Too Tough To Tame” was much needed.
“We really needed it,” sounded Burton of his finish. “The last few weeks we’ve kind of been on the other side of it, where we’ve been fast and didn’t have anything to show for it.
“This week was kind of the opposite. We were probably a 10th-place car and finished sixth. That was just about execution at the end, restarts at the end and getting a decent finish.”
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