October 31, 2020 | By Lee Spencer

Harrison Burton becomes youngest winner at Martinsville

MARTINSVILLE, Va.—Harrison Burton won the Draft Top 250 on Saturday while Justin Allgaier, Austin Cindric and Justin Haley raced their way into the Championship 4 at Martinsville Speedway.

Burton took the lead from AJ Allmendinger on Lap 198 after the left rear tire went down on the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet.

He led the final 53 laps—and a total of 81 circuits—to break his father Jeff’s record as the youngest victor at the half-mile track.

“I heard my old man come over the radio, so that was pretty special,” Burton said of his father congratulating him from the NBC Sports booth. “It was a really fun race. Martinsville is one of those places that’s really cool to win at. For me in particular, because my family is from here. There’s a guy in a hot dog (costume) for Halloween. The fans here are awesome. It’s amazing to win here at what is one of my home tracks I would say and do what my dad did. I think it was his first Xfinity win was here.”

Allgaier finished .355-seconds behind Burton for second-place followed by Noah Gragson, Jeb Burton, Ross Chastain, Riley Herbst, Chase Briscoe, Michael Annett, Brandon Jones and Cindric.

“I wanted to get a clock,” Allgaier said over the radio. “Let’s go get our team the championship next week boys. We did all we could do right there.”

The first segment was slowed by three cautions—two involving Gray Gaulding—before Gragson won the stage on Lap 61. Burton took the lead for the first time on Lap 64 under caution before coming to the pits. J.J. Yeley and Ryan Sieg stayed on the track but were quickly passed by Burton and Gragson.

The race was red-flagged on Lap 74 for seven minutes following a multi-car wreck involving Matt Mills, Donald Theetge, Stefan Parsons and B.J. McCleod in Turn 3. Mills problems continued throughout the race. He ignited the sixth caution as the No. 5 erupted into flame on Lap 104.

Chastain was leading at the time of the caution and held the point for 31 laps to win Stage 2. Allmendinger took the lead on Lap 124. His Kaulig teammate Haley triggered the eighth of 10 cautions following contact with Yeley on Lap 132. Haley’s engine had already begun to sour at that point.

“My motor started to go halfway through the race and I just limped around the rest of the way,” said Haley, who finished 12th. “It kept getting worse and worse and I couldn’t pass anyone.”

Allmendinger and Burton traded the point until lap 198 when the No. 16 Chevy was forced to pit with a flat tire. Burton took control and despite a wreck between Myatt Snider and Brandon Brown on Lap 214, it was smooth sailing to his fourth Xfinity Series win. But it was too little too late for Burton to secure a spot in the final four. What’s his consolation prize?

“Just confidence,” Burton said. “I think the schedule got released and it’s the same round going to Phoenix next year. If we can come and perform next year and make it through the first round, we’re going to be fighting for a championship and that’s an amazing feeling. I’m really proud of my race team. They work their tails off on this race car and our DEX Imaging Supra was pretty bad to the bone.”

Allgaier, Cindric and Haley joined Briscoe for the Championship 4 at Phoenix.

Gragson was the first man out after a solid post-season run. With the exception of a wreck at Kansas, where the team watched the crash clock expire and Gragson finished 36th, he posted five podium finishes in the Playoffs. But losing to Burton last week at Texas Motor Speedway put the driver of the No. 9 Chevy into a must-win situation at Martinsville.

“It’s definitely tough to swallow,” Gragson said. “I don’t know if we can really hang our head on what happened today. I guess it was just meant to be…but it has been a dream season. I don’t think it’s a failure by any means.”