LONG POND, Pa.: Utilizing strategy late in Sunday’s HighPoint.com 400, Harrison Burton and his Wood Brothers Racing team were able to take advantage of the benefits to score an eighth-place finish at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway.
In the early laps of Sunday’s 400-miler on the Tricky Triangle, Burton moved up two spots from his 26th starting position then finished the first 30-lap Stage in 15th place by staying on the track as others ahead of him made pit stops just prior to the end of the stage.
Crew chief Brian Wilson brought Burton to pit road during the caution period at the end of the Stage then called for several more stops under caution, at Laps 36 and 46, which allowed the DEX Imaging team to make a green flag stop with just four laps remaining in Stage 2.
When a group of drivers pitted at the end of the Stage, Burton moved up to 13th position for the start of Stage 3.
While finding themselves mired in traffic through much of the race, an aggressive strategy to pit later during Stage 3 and a better-balanced No. 21 DEX Imaging race car for Burton – allowed them to keep themselves a player in the race and benefit for a series of late race cautions.
Burton was back on pit road at Laps 106, and that strategy allowed him to move up to second place during the next round of green-flag stops.
The No. 21 Mustang hit pit road at Lap 138 for two tires and six laps later was back in the top-10 with 15 remaining.
Despite two more restarts, including a race-ending caution for a stalled Ryan Preece in Turn 2, Burton finished eighth and delivered his first top-10 finish since finishing sixth at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway in May.
“It was a good finish for us,” said Burton after the race. “We were mired in traffic all day and that makes it hard, and we struggled for handling but made a few changes at the end and that got the car pretty good right before the long green flag cycle and I could kind of run long. A lot of those guys pitted themselves into traffic and we were able to have clean air and click off faster lap times.
“We pitted and came out in front of a lot of those guys, so that helped us a lot. The strategy at Pocono is always fun, so it’s fun to kind of know what’s going on and know that you have to go run fast laps because the guys behind you are trying to do the same. It worked out to where we pitted out in front of them.”
Burton said the rash of late race restarts forced him to get aggressive behind the wheel. The aggression paid off with his fourth career Cup top-10 overall. The four-time Xfinity Series winner didn’t take all the credit though, as he gave praise to his pit crew for allowing them to keep track position when it counted most.
“The guys did a good job on pit road to do that and the last few restarts I just tried to be aggressive and keep moving forward and got a few more spots,” added Burton. “It was a decent day for us.”
Sunday’s finish matched the number of top-10 finishes Burton scored during his rookie season in 2022, and while, Burton is satisfied with their finish at Pocono, the determination remains in the No. 21 team to continue to fight and claw through the rest of the season to continue to make their race cars better which they hope will be rewarded with more stronger finishes.
“The last two weekends have been better for us,” explained Burton. “This weekend I was disappointed the first little bit because it wasn’t very good, and then found a way to keep digging and claw out of it. Last weekend was the opposite. The first three-quarters of the race was really good and then the end just got cycled back on some restarts.
“It’s good to finish on the good side of it this weekend and keep fighting through the day and not give up on making the race car better. We definitely did that. It’s a good finish for us, like I said, and I’m proud of our guys. There’s not a lot of quit on this race team. We’ve been through hell and high water, but we’re still fighting.”
After 21 races, Burton stands 29th in the championship standings.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01 or email: [email protected].
