Harrison Burton earned a diligent, strong sixth at Darlington on Sunday afternoon. (Photo: Trish McCormack | The Podium Finish)
DARLINGTON, S.C. – Despite Harrison Burton weathering through a bit of a sophomore season struggle, Sunday’s Goodyear 400 offered a strong glimpse into his genuine potential in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Starting from the 14th position, the 22-year-old driver of the No. 21 DEX Imaging Ford Mustang placed a respectable 11th in Stage 1 and 18th in Stage 2. Biding his time at the 1.366-mile Darlington Raceway, Burton showcased poise, grit and patience, opting to show his best cards when it really mattered.
Even with late race attrition eliminating plentiful contenders by the wayside like Kyle Larson, Ross Chastain, Martin Truex Jr. and Joey Logano from battling for the win or a top 10 result, Burton had the genuine pace and power to mix it up with the usual frontrunners.
However, it was not all easy pickings for the mild mannered racer, particularly when he had to overcome a pit stop setback in the opening moments of the race.
“I felt like we kind of just bounced around 15th after we lost the top 10 track position early on pit road,” Burton said. “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.”
Admittedly, aside from Burton’s tough results this year, the Ford camp has not had the sheer, raw pace prevalent with their OEM rivals in Chevrolet and Toyota. Still, it is a marked improvement for the Huntersville, North Carolinian, particularly as he tallied a strong sixth at “The Lady In Black.”
Burton overcame an early pit stop miscue to tally a sixth in the Goodyear 400. (Photo: Trish McCormack | The Podium Finish)
“I’m really proud of the DEX Imaging Ford Mustang guys and the Wood Brothers,” he said. “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.”
Burton still has much work ahead to climb out of the early season hole that he and his No. 21 find themselves in before the next points paying race, the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, on Sunday, May 28. Then again, a victory can ease some of those setbacks with a possible spot in the Playoffs.
For now, it is a nice change of pace, literally, for the young racer, particularly with nabbing the result that justified the great performance on the track on Sunday and in recent weeks.
“We really needed it,” Burton said. “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.”
