Harrison Burton departs from Wood Brothers Racing feeling both fulfilled from having won a race for one of the sport’s most beloved families, but also conflicted about his tenure.
“Obviously, I wanted to do more and wanted to do more sooner,” Burton said. “I really think if I run the way I the last half of this season earlier, I keep my job. That’s a part of racing. It’s performing when it matters and performing before silly season starts.”
Burton future’s with the No. 21 team was in the rumor mill before the summer began. Then, just ahead of the Fourth of July, the announcement was made that Josh Berry will take over the car beginning in 2025.
“I can leave knowing that my main goal when I got hired was to win a Cup race with the Wood Brothers,” Burton said. “So, to check that off the box is really cool. To do it at Daytona, to do it with the group that I’ve talked about over and over again, it’s hard to beat that stuff. It’s stuff that I as a competitor live for that, and I can leave there not feeling satisfied but feeling partially satisfied, I guess, with that win, for sure.”
A dramatic, last lap pass in the summer race at Daytona International Speedway was the long-awaited 100th victory for the Wood Brothers and the first in the series for Burton. And since it was the second-to-last race in the regular season, it propelled the team into the postseason.
The victory was Burton’s second – and would be final – top 10 finish of the season. He finished 16th in the championship standings with an average finish of 25.7. There were also seven DNFs and only 18 lead lap finishes in 36 races.
“The win is obviously a highlight but what we did with it afterward and the way we built each other up, I take a lot of pride in that,” Burton said. “I take a lot of pride that I can be really good friends with all of my guys still and go to the shop to do whatever… moving my stuff out and talking to those guys. They’re my friends still. There are a lot of chances for that not to go that way, and you see that sometimes with different drivers and different teams where it ends ugly.