DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – This has been an absolute break-out year for some of the sport’s most talented young drivers – from 21-year old Noah Gragson’s maiden series win in the Daytona season-opener to 25-year old Chase Briscoe’s win at Las Vegas to 19-year old rookie Harrison Burton’s first career win at California’s Auto Club Speedway last weekend.
The top of the championship standings includes a vastly new slate of names and these drivers have not disappointed giving every reason to believe that Saturday’s LS Tractor 200 at Phoenix Raceway (4 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) will carry some of that fresh excitement too.
With his win last week Burton took the lead in the Xfinity Series driver standings by 10 points over the 25-year old Briscoe. The one-two California finish by Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Burton, 19 and Riley Herbst, 21 was the youngest one-two finish in series history.
Burton also became the first rookie to ever open a season with three consecutive top-five finishes. He is the only driver in the series with that perfect top five three-for-three run. He and Ryan Sieg, who finished fourth at California, are the only two drivers in the series with three top-10 finishes in the first three races.
One of last year’s young breakout stars, 21-year old Team Penske driver Austin Cindric rallied to his second top-five finish of the year in California and sits in third place in the series driver standings, only 18 points behind Burton.
Sieg, whose two top-five finishes already equals his best ever season top-five total, is having the best season start of his career. He’s fourth 24 points behind Burton. And Kaulig Racing’s Justin Haley is fifth, 31 points off Burton.
The racing on this week’s Phoenix one-miler has been anyone’s game of late. There have been five different winners in the last five races. And among the 2020 Xfinity championship contenders, JR Motorsports driver Justin Allgaier is the only multi-time Phoenix winner, earning his second trophy just last November. He comes into the race ranked 10th only 38 points behind Burton.
This week, reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch will be attempting to make series history. He is an 11-time Xfinity Series race winner at Phoenix – tying him with NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin – who won 11 times at Rockingham Speedway in North Carolina – for the most wins at one track. A 12th trophy for Busch this week would be historic and simply another chapter of greatness for the Las Vegas native in Phoenix. He already holds the record for wins (11), pole positions (nine), top-10s (19) and Laps Led (2,156) in the Xfinity Series at Phoenix Raceway.
Source: Holly Cain | NASCAR Wire Service
