BURTON CLAIMS TOP-10 FINISH AT MARTINSVILLE

November 1, 2018

Date: Oct. 27, 2018
Event: Texas Roadhouse 200 (Race 20 of 23)
Series: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS)
Location: Martinsville (Va.) Speedway (0.526-mile oval)
Format: Three Segments; 50 laps/50 laps/100 laps
Start/Finish: 2nd / 8th (running, completed 200 of 200 laps)
Winner: Johnny Sauter of GMS Racing (Chevrolet)

Despite not having any practice time due to rain all day Friday, Harrison Burton qualified his No. 51 Morton Buildings Tundra second and fought hard all day to finish the 200-lap race at Martinsville Speedway in eighth place for his fourth top-10 finish in five NCWTS starts this season.

Stage One Recap:

  • Burton started second on the front row with his KBM teammate Todd Gilliland who won his first pole.
  • The KBM duo ran first and second for the first 39 laps of the race until a caution brought both of them to pit road for four tires and fuel so they could stay out when the first stage ended on lap 50.
  • Burton was 12th when the race resumed and finished Stage One in ninth place.

    • Stage Two Recap:

  • Unfortunately pitting early did not work out as planned, since several teams opted not to pit at all to keep track position. This put Burton in fifth to start the next 50-lap stage.
  • He radioed that his Morton Buildings Tundra was tight and ended Stage Two in 10th place.
  • Crew chief Mike Hillman Jr., called Burton to pit road for the final time for four tires and adjustments to free up the Tundra.

    • Stage Three Recap:

  • He was 11th to start the final 100-lap stage.
  • With 40 laps to go several trucks spun in front of Burton, but he was able to stay low and avoid all of them. This helped him move up to eighth place when the race resumed with 32 laps remaining.
  • He was up to seventh with 20 laps to go
  • On the final lap he tried the top lane and teammate Noah Gragson was able to get by to nab the seventh position, while Burton finished eighth.

    • Harrison Burton, driver of the No. 51 Morton Buildings Tundra for Kyle Busch Motorsports:
    Talk about your race today:
    “We had a really good qualifying effort to start. The boys had us dialed in really good and we thought we were going to be good in the race. We fired off really tight in the race and I think some of our teammates had the same problem so we were really struggling to get speed through the center of the corner and get the drive off. These trucks, it’s really important to roll the center fast and get good drive up off. I don’t know, that was a bit of a struggle, but I feel like we managed really well and made good adjustments. It was just about track position and it’s so hard to pass here. We’re not far off, but not quite where we needed to be. We can move on, learn and go to Texas.”