August 24, 2024 | By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service

Harrison Burton posts first Cup Series victory at Daytona

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — In one of the most dramatic races of the season, 23-year-old second-generation driver Harrison Burton made a last lap pass on two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch in overtime at Daytona International Speedway to earn his first career NASCAR Cup Series win and deliver his legendary Wood Brothers Racing team its historic 100th victory.

Big wrecks, amazing passes, and ultimately one of the most memorable and popular victories of the year characterized a busy, busy Coke Zero Sugar 400 on the Daytona high banks that had tremendous effect on the NASCAR Playoff outlook now with only a single race left to decide which 16 drivers will advance to championship contention.

Burton got a huge push on the backstretch from a first-time NASCAR Cup Series starter, Parker Retzlaff, allowing Burton’s No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford to pull alongside and ultimately by race leader Busch who stayed on Burton’s bumper to the finish line, but was unable to pass him back.

The win is an automatic ticket for Burton into the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs after not even being among the top-20 in points coming into the race. It was a hugely popular victory for the young driver with many of his competitors coming by to congratulate him on pit road and in victory lane.

“That is what the sport is about,’’ Burton’s father, NBC Sports broadcaster and former NASCAR Cup Series standout Jeff Burton said after high-fiving his colleagues in the television booth, overcome with emotion watching his son claim his first major race victory.

Harrison Burton was equally as emotional – claiming his win by a fraction of a second – .047-second – over the two-time series champion Busch.

“I cried the whole victory lap,” Burton said. “I obviously got fired from this job and wanted to do everything for the Wood Brothers I could, they’ve given me an amazing opportunity in life and to give the 100th [win] on my way out is amazing. We’re in the Playoffs now. Let’s go to Darlington and see what happens.’’

On Saturday night, the question, was “what didn’t happen?” The race featured 16 leaders and 40 lead changes. The winner only led a single lap. There were two versions of the Daytona “Big One” – multi-car accidents that on this night, eliminated one race leader after another. Only five cars took the checkered flag without being involved in some sort of incident.

Burton and Busch got the chance to settle the trophy after an accident at the front of the field with only two laps of regulation remaining forced the overtime period.

Late race leader, Team Penske’s Austin Cindric was pushed from behind causing his No. 2 Ford to move into Josh Berry’s No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford alongside him. The side impact launched Berry’s Mustang airward sending it on a wild ride on the backstretch.

Berry, who led eight laps, earned his first stage win of the season and contended for the victory all night, climbed out of the upside down car on the backstraight with the help of the safety team, then waved to the crowd and received a huge round of applause.

“I’m all good, actually it probably wasn’t as bad as it looked,’’ Berry said after being checked in the infield medical center. “But man, I’m bummed. We had a helluva night going. We were in position and really proud of the job I did tonight and the team did tonight. We were in contention.’’

Only seven laps earlier there was a 14-car crash at the front of the field that eliminated another race leader – pole winner Michael McDowell, whose No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford launched airborne, turned sideways and came back down on all four tires, the melee collecting frontrunners Joey Logano – who led a race best 34 of the 164 laps on the night, Justin Haley, Kyle Larson and championship points leader Tyler Reddick among others.

Bubba Wallace, who is in a tight three-car battle for the final Playoff points position was involved too, but his 23XI Racing team was able to make quick repairs and return to the track. He finished sixth but is still on the outside looking in for a Playoff position.

With Burton’s win, Wallace now finds himself ranked 17th in the standings – 21 points off the pace of Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing’s Chris Buescher, who is holding down that 16th and final Playoff position after earning a 10th place finish Saturday.

Ross Chastain, the third driver in tight contention for the final Playoff position based on points, rallied to finish 12th. He is ranked 18th, 27 points behind Buescher.

Busch, who now has top-five finishes in the last three races, is essentially in need of a victory next weekend in the regular season finale at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway. He is 106 points below the cutoff line despite his recent string of strong finishes.

“Just frustrating you know,’’ the Richard Childress Racing driver Busch said of just missing out on the win, which would not only have punched his Playoff ticket but also extended his streak of 19 seasons with at least one victory.

“We win races here in Daytona going into the last restart but haven’t been able to pull off the victory, not sure what I’m doing wrong or missing,’’ Busch said, explaining, “I wanted to get up in front of the 21 [Burton] because I knew the momentum was coming there but I knew the 20 [former teammate Christopher Bell] was a better friend [behind], just didn’t work out. As usual.’’

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver Bell finished third, followed by Rick Ware Racing’s Cody Ware, and JGR’s Ty Gibbs. Wallace was sixth. Brad Keselowski was seventh, followed by Retzlaff in his series debut, Daniel Hemric and Buescher.

The first round of drama – the opening “Big One” as the large wrecks at Daytona International Speedway are called – happened on Lap 61 when 17 cars were involved in an accident exiting Turn 4.

Corey LaJoie’s No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet triggered the accident in tight-quarter racing. It collected Chastain and forcing numerous pit stops for the Floridian who is trying to earn one of the last points positions in the Playoffs.

It also involved championship frontrunners Tyler Reddick, Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson in varying degrees.

Elliott and Hamlin had to retire their cars with the damage and were scored 36th and 38th respectively. Reddick still managed to finish 28th. Larson, who was involved in multiple incidents on the night, finished 21st.

Heading to the regular season finale next weekend, Reddick maintains a 17-point edge atop the standings over Larson. Elliott is now 18 points back. The regular season champion earns a valuable 15-point bonus to carry with him through the 10-race Playoffs.

The regular season concludes with next Sunday night’s Cook Out Southern 500 at the historic Darlington Raceway (6 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Larson is the defending race winner.

**** *****

*Trackhouse Racing formally announced Shane van Gisbergen will drive the No. 88 Chevrolet for the team in the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season – marking the return of the number famously carried by NASCAR Hall of Famers Dale Jarrett and Dale Earnhardt Jr. and most recently current Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman.

The New Zealander Van Gisbergen famously won his first ever NASCAR Cup Series start, claiming the trophy in the inaugural Chicago Street Course race two years ago. Van Gisbergen is currently running a full NASCAR Xfinity Series season and leads the Playoff standings thanks to a series-best three wins this year.



NASCAR Cup Series Race Number 25
Race Results for the Coke Zero Sugar 400 - Saturday, August 24, 2024
Daytona International Speedway - Daytona Beach, FL - 2.5 - Mile Paved

Total Race Length - 164 Laps - 410. Miles

Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Saturday, 8/24/2024 @ 11:16 PM Eastern

Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Stage 1 Pos Stage 2 Pos Pts Status Tms Laps Playoff Pts
1 20 21 Harrison Burton DEX Imaging Ford 164   40 Running 1 1 5
2 11 8 Kyle Busch Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen Chevrolet 164  7 39 Running 2 8
3 27 20 Christopher Bell Interstate Batteries Toyota 164   34 Running  
4 33 15 Cody Ware Jacob Construction/Parts Plus Ford 164   33 Running  
5 26 54 Ty Gibbs REAGAN The Movie Toyota 164   32 Running  
6 18 23 Bubba Wallace Columbia Sportswear Company Toyota 164  10 32 Running 4 16
7 29 62 * Parker Retzlaff(i) Funkaway Chevrolet 164   0 Running  
8 12 6 Brad Keselowski King's Hawaiian Ford 164 7 3 41 Running 3 8
9 28 31 Daniel Hemric Cirkul Chevrolet 164   28 Running  
10 13 17 Chris Buescher Fifth Third Bank Ford 164 3 9 37 Running 2 10
11 37 77 Carson Hocevar # Premier Security Chevrolet 164   26 Running 1 1
12 24 1 Ross Chastain Worldwide Express Chevrolet 164   25 Running  
13 30 71 Zane Smith # Ambetter Health Chevrolet 164   24 Running  
14 6 14 Chase Briscoe Mahindra Compact Tractors Ford 164   23 Running 1 2
15 31 42 John Hunter Nemechek Pye Barker Fire & Safety Toyota 164   22 Running  
16 21 48 Alex Bowman Ally Chevrolet 164   21 Running  
17 40 43 Erik Jones Famiy Dollar Toyota 164   20 Running  
18 8 2 Austin Cindric Menards/Tarkett Ford 164 4  26 Running 2 15
19 38 78 * BJ McLeod(i) Power Slap Chevrolet 164   0 Running  
20 39 44 * Joey Gase(i) NFPA Chevrolet 164   0 Running  
21 9 5 Kyle Larson HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 163 10 4 24 Running 3 5
22 16 3 Austin Dillon BREZTRI Chevrolet 162   15 Running  
23 2 38 Todd Gilliland Grillo's Pickles Ford 162 6 5 25 Running 2 5
24 17 19 Martin Truex Jr. Bass Pro Shops Toyota 161   13 Running  
25 23 33 * Austin Hill(i) United Rentals Chevrolet 159   0 Accident  
26 5 4 Josh Berry # eero Ford 158 1  21 Accident 5 9 1
27 7 24 William Byron Liberty University Chevrolet 158 9 8 15 Accident 1 1
28 25 45 Tyler Reddick MoneyLion Toyota 156   9 Accident  
29 14 12 Ryan Blaney Advance Auto Parts Ford 154 5 2 23 Accident  
30 1 34 Michael McDowell Long John Silver's Ford 151 8  10 Accident 3 26
31 3 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 151 2 1 25 Accident 9 34 1
32 36 51 Justin Haley Beef a Roo Ford 151  6 10 Accident 1 21
33 35 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Kroger/BIGGIE Muffins/Capri Sun Chevrolet 151   4 Accident 1 2
34 34 7 Corey LaJoie Celsius Chevrolet 132   3 Running  
35 32 16 Shane Van Gisbergen(i) Safety Culture Chevrolet 80   0 Engine  
36 10 9 Chase Elliott NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet 61   1 Accident  
37 15 10 Noah Gragson Rush Truck Centers Ford 59   1 Accident  
38 19 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Cares Toyota 59   1 Accident  
39 4 41 Ryan Preece TRUEWERK Ford 59   1 DVP  
40 22 99 Daniel Suarez Coca-Cola Zero Sugar Chevrolet 37   1 Fire  

Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 1 Mins, 40 Secs. Average Speed: 135.413 MPH Margin of Victory: .047 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 4, 22, 17, 2, 12, 38, 6, 34, 24, 5
Stage 2 Top 10: 22, 12, 6, 5, 38, 51, 8, 24, 17, 23

Caution Flags: 7 for 34 laps; Laps: 37-41 (Stage 1 Conclusion [44]); 61-66 (#1, 19, 41, 48, 24, 9, 43, 45, 5, 31, 7, 12, 3, 11, 10, 20, 42 Incident Backstretch [None]); 82-88 (Possible Fluid On Backstretch from #16 [48]); 97-100 (Stage 2 Conclusion [1]); 141-144 (#42 Spin Backstretch [19]); 153-157 (#34, 5, 23, 22, 48, 45, 51, 24, 12, 8, 20, 47, 17, 33 Incident Turn 1 [19]); 160-162 (#4, 2 Incident Backstretch [Red Flag: 00:06:52] [5]).

Lead Changes: 40 among 16 drivers; M. McDowell 1-5; J. Logano 6; J. Berry # 7; B. Keselowski 8-11; J. Berry # 12; W. Byron 13; J. Berry # 14; J. Logano 15-19; T. Gilliland 20-21; J. Logano 22-23; T. Gilliland 24-26; J. Berry # 27-29; J. Logano 30-34; J. Berry # 35-37; R. Stenhouse Jr. 38-39; J. Logano 40-45; B. Wallace 46-47; C. Buescher 48; B. Wallace 49; C. Briscoe 50-51; B. Wallace 52-62; C. Hocevar # 63; C. Buescher 64-72; B. Wallace 73-74; J. Logano 75-77; K. Larson 78; J. Logano 79; K. Larson 80; J. Logano 81-88; K. Larson 89-91; B. Keselowski 92-94; J. Logano 95-97; B. Keselowski 98; M. McDowell 99-118; J. Haley 119-139; K. Busch 140-142; A. Cindric 143-150; M. McDowell 151; A. Cindric 152-158; K. Busch 159-163; H. Burton 164.

(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series

Next Race: September 1, 2024 - Darlington Raceway

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