Event: NCWTS 250, Race 17 of 23, 64 Laps – 20/20/24; 157.37 Miles
Location: Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP) in Bowmanville, Ont. (2.459-mile 10-turn road course)
Date/Broadcast: August 26, 2018 at 2:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR 90
What you Need to Know:
- Burton has no prior starts at CTMP. He was able to test there earlier this year and has experience on road courses running in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East. In six road course starts, he has two top-five and three top-10 finishes. His best finishes came at New Jersey Motorsports Park in Millville and Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International where he finished third in 2017.
- In three NCWTS starts this season Burton has earned two top-five, three top-10 finishes, one pole and led 30 laps. He scored his best career finish in the NCWTS at Iowa Speedway in Newton on June 16 when he won the pole, led 30 laps and finished third.
- The No. 51 team is the fourth seed in the NCWTS Owner’s Championship point standings. With multiple drivers throughout the season, the team is not eligible for the driver’s championship. KBM has won the owner’s championship six times in the past eight seasons.
- For Sunday’s race north of the border, Burton will be sponsored by Hunt Brothers Pizza and FIELDS. Hunt Brothers Pizza was started by four brothers from Indiana with a goal to build America’s No. 1 convenience store pizza brand. FIELDS is an award-winning sports general contractor whose projects include natural grass and synthetic turf sports field construction for professional sports teams, universities and municipalities. Headed by principals with a combined 100+ years of industry experience, expertise and creativity is applied to every project that’s undertaken. FIELDS is part of the Sports Fields Inc., family of companies which also includes FIELDS Maintenance, The Sports Force and Sports Force Parks. Learn more at sficompanies.com.
Harrison Burton: Driver Q&A
How are you feeling after missing Bristol due to illness?
“I feel good, I’m ready to go. I had a rough couple of weeks for sure, but got over everything and feeling good. I’m feeling healthy and ready to go grab some gears in Canada.”
You were able to test at CTMP a few months ago. How did that go?
“The test went really well earlier in the year. I learned the track, which is really big in road racing, to know every little part of the race track and where passing zones are. I really learned a lot in our test and we were pretty quick, so I’m excited to go back and show everyone else what we learned while we were there and hopefully get good results from it.”
What is the most challenging part of road racing?
“I think road racing is a different animal as far as race craft goes. You have passing zones, where as at oval tracks you can kind of just make it happen wherever if you have enough momentum and make the right moves. Road course tracks have some tough places to pass and places where if you do try and pass and you don’t make it work, then the next corner you are going to be in a bad situation and probably lose more positions. I think race craft as a whole is hard on road courses and knowing exactly what is coming up next and having to plan ahead in a moment’s notice is pretty tough and that’s what separates good road racers from not so good ones.”
Harrison Burton Career Highlights:
- Earned two top-five, three top-10 finishes and one pole in his three NCWTS starts in 2018
- Captured the 2017 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East championship after registering a series-high five wins, two poles, 142 laps led, 12 top-five and 14 top-10 finishes and an average finish of 3.3 across the series’ 14 events
- Visited victory lane in the ARCA Racing Series at Pocono Raceway earlier this month and Toledo (Ohio) Speedway in 2017
- In six NCWTS starts in 2017, recorded an average finish of 12.3 and earned a career-best fourth-place finish at Martinsville last October