NASCAR takeaways: Harrison Burton causes huge shock at Daytona to reach playoffs

Bob Pockrass

FOX NASCAR Insider

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Harrison Burtonwho likely has just 12 races left in his NASCAR Cup Series career, pulled off a major upset Saturday night by winning at Daytona International Speedway to move from 34th in the standings to the 2024 playoffs.

Knowing for months that he wouldn’t be returning to Wood Brothers Racing’s No. 21 car after this year, Burton avoided the major crashes that would have forced many of his rivals to retire, getting a boost from Parker Retzlaff at the right time and then throw a block in Kyle Busch into the final lap to win.

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Burton doesn’t know where he’ll race next year, but he does know he’ll have a career Cup win and his 100th win for Wood Brothers Racing, which has raced in NASCAR since 1950.

“I cried during the cool-down,” Burton said. “It was the hardest three years of my life, there’s no denying it. It was tough and these guys were there for me when I needed them most.”

The win threw the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs into chaos as two-time Cup champion Busch remains among the must-win contenders ahead of next Sunday’s regular-season finale at Darington Raceway.

Busch finished second with Christopher Bell Tuesday, Cody Hang Wednesday and Ty Gibbs Thursday.

Burton makes a big surprise

Burton had just one top-five and five top-10 finishes in his first 97 Cup races, so he didn’t have much Cup experience before entering the overtime restart on the front row.

“I was really lucky and won a lot of races when I was younger,” Burton said. “You just rely on the film you’ve seen, rely on the situations you’ve been through.”

The 23-year-old son of former Cup driver and current NBC analyst Jeff Burton said he’s relishing the opportunity to race in Cup despite the challenges.

“You never know when you’re going to get a chance to drive again,” Burton said. “I had the opportunity to do it for three years, to work with these guys. [at the Wood Brothers] in three years. … When times were tough, we did well.”

Berry, McDowell Take Flight

In two catastrophic crashes in the final laps, Josh Berry slid several hundred feet across the roof and slammed into an interior wall. The crash occurred after a few laps Michael McDowell has been denied contact with Austin Cindric and his car plummeted to the ground before hitting its wheels.

Neither driver was injured.

Berry slipped in a paved area last year after by Ryan Preece natural reversal

“Unfortunately, I just got turned around,” Berry said. “The car lifted up and slid on its roof.

“The paving has done its job compared to what we saw last year. …just the odd angle [into the wall]. I think the car was pretty crushed because it flipped over. The car did its job. I feel good. Just disappointed because I really thought I could have won that race.”

Both drivers said it’s just the nature of the style of racing at Daytona, where NASCAR has to limit the horsepower produced so cars don’t fly into the air without making contact, so cars race in large numbers and have little time to react.

“It was going through,” McDowell said. “I closed my eyes, but whoever hit me felt like it was pushing me down because I had a moment where it was clear and it was very quiet, and then I got hit and then I was down again. … It was the end of a Daytona race and these things happen.

“Everyone is giving their all and we have guys there who have to win, so you know everyone is going to give their best.”

Change the knockout image

With Burton clinching one of the 16 playoff spots, there are now just three spots left (and possibly just one if Austin Dillon penalty win on Monday and a new winner at Darlington) for those riders without a win.

Martin Truex Jr., Ty Gibbs and Chris Buescher are currently ahead of Bubby Wallace with Truex leading by 58 points, Gibbs leading by 39 points and Buescher leading by 21 points. Wallace is 21 points behind Buescher and Ross Chastain are 27 points behind.

All the teams without a win, including Busch, face a must-win situation at Darlington.

Busch finished second, and although heartbroken by the loss, he remained calm about it.

“Once they were in front, with as little energy as they had with the car, it was hard to make anything happen from Lap 4 to the start-finish,” Busch said. “Other than just wrecking him, there was nothing else I could do. … Everything was good. We were really, really, really lucky.” [to miss wrecks]”

Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motor sports, including more than 30 Daytona 500 races, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @baboon.

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