By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
With team owner Kyle Busch on the sidelines, there was no lack of effort from the cockpit of the No. 18 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota driven by Harrison Burton.
The current-winless rookie, who’s in the midst of his first full season in the Gander Outdoors Truck Series, contended up front in Friday’s JEGS 200 at Dover International Speedway. So much so that a debut victory seemed to be in the cards in the closing stages.
“This is the closest [the first win] has felt since Phoenix of last year,” Burton said.
That win, however, wasn’t the end result, as Burton lost valuable track position late and came home third.
“I was three-wide a lot today just driving my butt off, man,” he said. “It’s what these guys deserve, they work so hard and deserve me to drive my butt off, too.”
One of the gutsy passes of the day occured when Burton dove three-wide for the race lead on a late restart. The No. 18 came out running second, but more importantly, with a clean truck.
“That was fun,” he said. “If any other driver gets a run like that, I would expect them to do it, too. I got a good restart and I told my spotter before to tell me where the [start/finish line] was because you can’t change lanes before the line. I had it in my plan, I planned it out and it worked out good.
“I had a lot of fun driving and going for it.”
However, the very same hard driving that got him near the front eventually stood as his demise.
“I just made a mistake behind Ben Rhodes — followed him too much and got in his dirty air,” he said. “I should’ve ran the middle or the top… I just messed that up.
“I could have won the race, got track position and got clear. Who knows from there.”
The good news for the youngest Burton name was that Friday tied for his best career Trucks finish, coming home third for the third time. His best result thus far of 2019, Burton is learning new things every day at the track.
“I got better as the race went. The truck got better, too,” he said. “We were loose and tight at the same time. It was a really weird phenomenon. The right front would slip and then the right rear would slip, and then the right front would slip. That was something I hadn’t really felt much before.”