By Seth Eggert, Associate Editor
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – As the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs begin, for drivers like Harrison Burton, it presents a new opportunity for ‘a new season’ with a different set of pressures and expectations. Although the Playoffs mark a reset for the Wood Brothers Racing driver, it is still largely the same races he ran the past two seasons.
While the 2024 season marks the first time that both the superspeedway version of Atlanta Motor Speedway and the road course at Watkins Glen Int’l are in the playoffs the driver of the No. 21 DEX Imaging Ford Mustang Dark Horse is carrying the same mindset into the post-season. The tracks are the same, the racing will largely be the same, except the intensity will be increased.
The heightened intensity and pressure is something that Burton overcame at Daytona Int’l Speedway to earn his first career Cup win in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 and the Wood Brothers their 100th victory in the Cup Series. That catapulted the Ford Performance driver from outside the top-30 in points to be the 14th seed on the 16-driver Playoff Grid.
“For me, the more you build it up in your head, the I think the worse you’re going to perform, right?” Burton observed. “I think you need to just understand that it’s just the same race I ran last year, I was at all the same races, now it just means more. I think using that in a positive way using that heightened intensity as a positive thing for our team is going to be really, really good.
“I think our group is built for that. I think we’ve all been through different scenarios in our different careers where we’ve had to kind of pull through and come through in big moments and we showed we could do that in Daytona with everything on the line. Now we just have to continue that momentum and continue that confidence, and we’ll see what happens.”
2024 might be the first time that Burton is in the Cup Series Playoffs, but he is no stranger to the post-season pressure. The 23-year-old made the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs in 2020 and 2021. Both times he finished eighth in the championship, though after being eliminated in 2020 he won two consecutive races.
Burton plans to use some of the lessons he learned from his two years in the Xfinity Playoffs.
“I think (my past experience in the Xfinity Playoffs) is huge,” Burton explained. “I think I learned a lot of lessons in those, making it really big deal. I remember my first year, getting to the playoffs, and we struggled and didn’t do very well. I get knocked out of the playoffs and then win two races in a row right after we got knocked out of the playoffs, which would have got us to Phoenix. It’s just crazy how that all worked out and how what could have happened, and you just don’t get chances to.
“I thought in those years in activity I thought a real chances to win championships. You don’t get those very often. I learned a lot from that. And I think I can take that into this year in Cup and now that you look at the points, I mean we’re right on the cutline; it’s a whole new season for us. So, everything that happened beforehand doesn’t matter and we’re just going forward from here and it’s going to be hopefully a new look for the 21 car. So, we’re excited.”
For Burton, the Playoffs start with the Quaker State 400 available at Walmart at Atlanta Motor Speedway. In five starts on at the track he has one top-10 finish in the 2022 Summer race.
The Quaker State 400 available at Walmart at Atlanta Motor Speedway is schedule for Sunday, September 8, at 3:00 p.m. ET on USA Network. The race will also be broadcast on both the Performance Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.