Gaunt Brothers Racing announced Thursday evening that four-time NASCAR Xfinity Series winner Harrison Burton will make his NASCAR Cup Series debut next weekend at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway in the GEICO 500.
DEX Imaging, the digital document imaging division of Staples, the world’s largest business solutions provider will support the effort of Burton’s No. 96 Toyota Camry.
Burton, 20, won the 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series Rookie of the Year title for Joe Gibbs Racing with four triumphs in the stepping-stone division to the premier NASCAR Cup Series. He will make his 50th career Xfinity Series start on Sat., Apr. 24 at Talladega in his No. 20 Toyota Supra before climbing into the No. 96 DEX Imaging Toyota Camry on Sunday.
“I’m incredibly grateful to DEX Imaging and Toyota for providing this opportunity with Gaunt Brothers Racing,” Burton said. “From the moment I started racing, the Cup Series was always the goal. In everything I’ve done, I’ve been working toward this moment. I saw how hard my dad worked to get to Cup and how hard he worked to compete and win races.
“He instilled that same work ethic in me and I’m just really proud and honored to have the chance to do what he did and compete with the best of the best.”
Burton is the son of Jeff Burton, a 21-race winner in the NASCAR Cup Series and current NBC analyst.
Following Martinsville this past Sunday, he is currently third in the championship standings with two top-five and five top-10 finishes including a season-high third at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway and Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway last month.
A firm developmental path has proven to be successful for the second-generation driver who has been racing for 16 years.
He started in Quarter Midgets at age four, eventually winning three national championships (2009, 2011 and 2012). By 11, he was also racing Late Model stock cars, winning his first pole in 2011 at Ace Speedway in Altamahaw, North Carolina, and earning his first win in 2012 at Dillon (S.C.) Motor Speedway.
Burton has been climbing the racing ladder ever since, winning his first Pro Late Model division race in February 2014 at New Smyrna (Fla.) Speedway to become the youngest Division I winner in the history of the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series.
When Burton made his NASCAR K&N Pro Series West debut in October 2015 at All American Speedway in Roseville, California, he became the youngest driver to compete in that series at just 15 years, eight days old.
Burton, a native of Huntersville, N.C. has raced and won at nearly every level he has competed, with victories in Super Late Models, the K&N Pro Series, the ARCA Menards Series and the Xfinity Series.
Other accolades for Burton include winning the 2017 K&N Pro Series East championship and some of the biggest Late Model races in the country, including the 2017 World Series of Asphalt Championship at New Smyrna, the 2017 ARCA | CRA Super Late Model Series Speedfest at Crisp Motorsports Park in Cordele, Georgia, the 2018 Rattler 250 at South Alabama Speedway in Kinston and the 2018 World Series 100 at New Smyrna.
Despite being an open-car Cup team, Gaunt Brothers Racing is expected to make the field by securing 40th in the NASCAR Cup Series owner points, the last position available to make the starting grid.
The team missed making the season-opening Daytona 500 by inches with driver Ty Dillon at the wheel. Dillon lost the spot to Ryan Preece who narrowly edged the No. 96 Toyota Camry during their respectively qualifying race ahead of the Great American Race.
“We’re proud to represent such an innovative brand in DEX Imaging and equally proud to have Harrison make his first NASCAR Cup Series start with us,” said Marty Gaunt, President, Gaunt Brothers Racing.
“As a Toyota team, we’ve seen firsthand how well Harrison has developed. He’s been racing and winning in Toyotas for years, and yet he’s still only 20 years old. He has a very bright future ahead of him and we aim to make his Cup Series debut a successful one.”
Gaunt Brothers Racing has made two starts in 2021 at the Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway Road Course and on the Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway dirt. Dillon finished a season team-high 19th at Daytona.
Burton joins Jennifer Jo Cobb as the second driver slated to make their NASCAR Cup Series debut in the 188-lap event.
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