Harrison Burton Shocks The World

Harrison Burton the son of former NASCAR driver and current NBC analyst Jeff Burton has rocked the NASCAR world at the World Center Of Racing at Daytona International Speedway. Harrison Burton edged his name in the history books with an unlikely victory at the historic Daytona Speedway. Harrison Burton also has clinched a spot in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. This shakes up the playoff standing and turns Darlington into a must-win track for drivers close to that cutline.

Harrison Burton Wining On The Way Out

Photo byAdrián ValverdeonUnsplash

Harrison Burton got the win weeks after it was quietly announced that Josh Berry would be taking over the legendary Wood Brothers car. Despite the devastating news, Harrison Burton was able to keep the car clean for the 400+ mile race. One of only six cars to not be involved in a wreck in the Wreckfest was the 2024 Coke Zero 400. Harrison Burton is the prime example of Daytona being for miracle winners. Unlike at Richmond NASCAR won’t intervene in this victory.

For the Legendary Wood Brothers team this is win number 100 for the oldest team in NASCAR. The Wood Brothers have snapped a 263-race winless streak. The last win for the Wood Brothers came in 2017 at Pocono where Ryan Blaney captured his first career win at Pocono out dueling Kyle Busch much like Harrison Burton did in Daytona. The History of the Wood Brothers dates back to 1950 NASCAR’s second season in operation. David Pearson won the Triple Crown of NASCAR in 1976.

The Horrific Wrecks

Daytona made a major change to help with safety with paving the backstretch infield trying to reduce the chances of cars flipping in the transition from asphalt to the grass. Nonetheless, there were many concerning incidents from a safety standpoint at Daytona. The one everyone will be talking about is Josh Berry flipping on his lid and smashing into the inside wall upside down which caved in the nose of Berry’s car.

The concerning trend developing in NASCAR is when the car is turned at an angle the car goes airborne landing upside down. We saw it last week with Corey LaJoie at Michigan and we got a much scarier sight at Daytona. The other wreck is Micheal McDowell whose car left the ground as well landing on its side momentarily before coming back down on its tires. There is always a chance of a car going airborne but to see how easily these cars are going up in the air is a major cause of concern.

In the diffuser in the back of the car, there is a flap that will deploy when the hood flap is released, however, that flap won’t open unless the car is going backward straight on thus we see these cars that slide backward at an angle go airborne because that flap in the diffuser does not open. NASCAR has and most certainly will figure out a way to keep these cars on the ground before things take a horrific turn.

The Point Standings Shakeup

With the win by Harrison Burton, the cutline now moves down one slot. Chris Buscher is on the cutline 21 points above it. However, it is all for nothing if we get a first-time winner at Darlington next weekend. Bubba Wallace is the first driver out of the playoffs, 21 points can be gained in a race but needs a lot of help to accomplish that feat, and given Buescher’s performance at Darlington earlier this year Bubba and Ross Chastain who is 27 points below the cutline is in a must-win situation to punch their ticket to the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

Ty Gibbs and Martin Truex Jr. are comfortably in the on points Gibbs is 39 points above the cutline while Truex can clinch on points with a win in stage one at Darlington in his final season. Kyle Busch who leads the white flag at Daytona needs to win to get in there is no way for the two-time Cup series champion to make it on points he must win to make the playoffs.

Final Thoughts at Daytona

This race was great, lots of action that we expect at a track like Daytona. Harrison Burton did everything right on the final lap to capture the victory with his father Jeff Burton in the booth calling the race for NBC. Daytona provides those wholesome moments but we saw two sides of racing. The wholesome family moments that only NASCAR provides, and the real-life danger that NASCAR has in these types of races.

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Article originally written by Dillon Hildreth