TALLADEGA, Ala.: 10 straight top-10 finishes for Joe Gibbs Racing driver Harrison Burton came to an abrupt end during Saturday afternoon’s Unhinged 300 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway.
Burton’s No. 20 DEX Imaging was hovering inside the top-20 with roughly 30 laps to go when two cars ahead of him abruptly slowed down with Kody Vanderwal losing control of his No. 52 Jimmy Means Racing Chevrolet in the process.
Trying to avoid the slowing cars, Burton ducked to the bottom lane of the track but was struck by the No. 52 which sent him back into a pack of cars led by Josh Williams and Joe Graf Jr.
Burton’s car came to a rest at the exit of Turn 3 where he climbed out uninjured but done for the day.
“It looks like we were all running the top and we were single file and they checked up really hard,” said Burton. “I don’t know if I didn’t get checked up in time. It looks like one of them got sideways and then it was just all over. It’s so hard to tell what’s going on. There’s so much going on, even when you’re running single file. Just a tough day for us.
“We had a fast race car and trying to make moves work on the bottom. Just kind of got shuffled to the back and from then on, that’s just kind of how it went down.”
When climbing from his battered race car, Williams appeared to be gesturing at Burton and while it appeared that Williams may have been unhappy with the accident, Burton reassured that Williams was checking on his well-being, while also discussing the uncharacteristic turn in the race when much of the field filed into single-file formation in the top groove.
“He asked me if I was alright and then I asked him if he was alright,” Burton explained of the discussion. “He was upset about how the racing was going I guess. Me and him are fine, there’s no problems there. First thing he said was, ‘are you alright?’
“That’s how you know it’s a big one is when your competitors ask if you’re okay when you get out. Just part of plate racing, unfortunately, and we’ll learn from it and be better.”
Entering Talladega, Burton has won two races this season, including last Saturday’s Hooters 250 at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway and hadn’t finished worse than ninth all year, but his 32nd
place finish not only ended a promising streak but also dropped him to fifth in the championship standings heading to Pocono (Pa.) Raceway next weekend.
Still, Burton is content with the direction of his JGR team and expects to be fast in his Xfinity debut at the 2.5-mile triangle.
“Proud of our guys,” offered Burton. “We always have fast Supras and I have no doubt that next week won’t be any different and we’ll hopefully go out and get a win.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
