Author: By Staff Report NASCAR.com October 17, 2019
Joe Gibbs Racing announced Thursday morning that Harrison Burton will move up to the NASCAR Xfinity Series full time in 2020, driving the No. 20 Toyota.
Burton has competed in six Xfinity Series events this year, with a best finish of fourth at Iowa Speedway in June. The 19-year-old driver will replace Christopher Bell, who will vacate the No. 20 to move to the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series next season with Leavine Family Racing.
“I want to finish this season strong, but I’m excited to get 2020 started,” Burton said in a statement provided by the team. “My time with JGR this season will really help me because I’ve already gotten to know so many people there and it’s such a great team and organization. They have a long history of helping to develop drivers and this is big for the next step in my career.”
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Joe Gibbs Racing indicated that DEX Imaging will provide primary sponsorship. The organization said that the No. 20 team’s crew chief for 2020 will be announced at a later date.
Burton, a product of the NASCAR Next youth initiative, is in his first full season in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series with Kyle Busch Motorsports. He won the 2017 championship in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East, and is a three-time winner in ARCA Menards Series competition.
JGR indicated that Burton is scheduled to make two more Xfinity starts this season before joining the series full time. He’s set to drive the No. 18 Toyota in Friday’s Kansas Lottery 300 (3 p.m. ET, NBC/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) and then again on Nov. 2 at Texas Motor Speedway.
Bell, 24, has 15 career wins in the Xfinity Series, including seven victories this season. He entered this year’s Xfinity Playoffs as the series’ top seed and will begin the Round of 8 this weekend at Kansas.
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