By: Sarah Handy, Staff Writer
When the NASCAR Xfinity Series heads to Talladega Superspeedway this Saturday, Harrison Burton will look to break his own record of consecutive Top-10 finishes.
The rookie record currently sits at ten Top-10 finishes in ten events this season – the previous record held by a rookie was nine in a row by Carl [Edwards] in 2005.
Burton is coming off a very successful weekend in South Florida at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
The weekend consisted of two races, one on Saturday and another on Sunday. In Saturday’s Hooter’s 250, he came away victorious with his second win of the season.
Sunday’s Contender Boats 250 saw Burton finish stages one and two in seventh and sixth, respectively. Then with eight laps remaining his No. 20 Toyota cut a tire– but that couldn’t keep him from capturing yet another Top-10 on the season, finishing eighth.
“I felt like we had a better car than we did yesterday. We were a little bit [more] competitive,” said Burton. “Not a finish my team deserves, but that happens. You are getting all you can the last few laps – right against the fence – and sometimes you just overstep. Once I got to the wall, I couldn’t get off of it, and that’s what caused the right rear to blow.”
Burton still hasn’t won a stage this season and he reiterated post-race how important those points are later on in the season. He will look to win one this weekend.
“We want to win more stages, things like that. I still haven’t won a stage – won [two] races but haven’t won a stage,” said Burton. “Got to find a way to get those Playoff points, they are [really] important come later in the year.”
Post-race last Saturday, the 19-year old said even though they’re winning , they’re still hungry. Additionally — he addressed the point he’s trying to prove to the ‘doubters’.
“I had a tough [year] last year and struggled, myself included thought I should have won races and came up short,” expressed Burton. “Because of that, I had [a lot of] people that doubted me coming to Joe Gibbs Racing and doubted that I would win races, run well or anything like that. That was fuel for me this off-season to work really hard. Fuel for my team. Even though we’re winning, we’re still hungry, we’re still wanting to be the best team.”
Burton will make his NXS Talladega debut this weekend. In one previous NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series start at the track in 2019 he finished 11th.
Tune into the NASCAR Xfinity Series Unhinged 300 from Talladega Superspeedway on Saturday June 20 at 5:30 pm ET with coverage on FS1 and MRN.