Let’s go back to the preseason for the 2022 NASCAR season. Harrison Burton is taking over the 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford Mustang after the departure of Matt DiBenedetto. This is Burton’s first full-time Cup ride as he made a one-off with Gaunt Brothers 96 car in 2021 at Talladega. Burton would go on to start 39th and finish 20th. 

Harrison Burton, a native of Huntersville, NC is in his third full-time season in the NASCAR Cup Series but his career trajectory has taken a severe nosedive the past several seasons. It is very important to remember that Burton doesn’t turn 24 until later this year so he is still very young and has plenty of time to right the ship, but with the Josh Berry to Wood Brothers Racing news, Burton finds himself out of a ride for the 2025 season. Where does Burton go from here?

To understand his rise and subsequent fall, we first must look at what landed him the Wood Brothers ride in the first place. 

Humble ARCA Beginnings

Harrison Burton first burst on the racing scene all the way back in 2015 where he would make starts in both the ARCA Series West and the Cars Pro Late Model Tour. In Late Models, Burton started 10 races over three seasons accumulating one win and five top 10 finishes. 

Burton’s breakout ARCA season came in 2017 when he started all 14 ARCA Series East races, securing a top 10 finish in all 14 starts and bringing home five wins driving for Matthew Miller in the number 12 Toyota. Excluding his 2017 season, his time in both the ARCA East and ARCA West series was nothing to write home about, starting 21 races between the two series from 2015-2018. In these three years, he would not find victory lane but would end up with three top-five finishes and 10 top 10s.

Burton Earns Callup to Main ARCA Series

In the main ARCA series, Burton would start 17 races, winning three times and finishing in the top 10 15 times including 10 top fives. He also led 90 laps and managed a 6.5 average start and 5.4 average finish.

Before his 2017 season, Burton made his Truck Series debut in 2016 starting one race for Kyle Busch Motorsports driving the No. 18 truck at Martinsville where he would start 16th and finish 22nd. Keep in mind, Burton was 15 when he made his Truck Series debut, so a top 25 finish for a 15 year old is impressive nonetheless.

KBM Gives Burton a Chance in Trucks

As mentioned above, KBM saw something they liked in Burton, allowing him to debut for them at age 15. From 2016-2019 Burton would start 38 races for KBM in the Truck Series but this is where his inconsistencies would start popping up. In a limited sample size in 2017-18, Burton would run 14 races and bring home seven top 10’s and four top fives. He managed a 7.1 average finish in eight races in 2018 which would be the best he would be able to muster in his time in the Truck Series. Burton would never crack the top 10 in Truck Series points, but that does come with the caveat that he only ran one full season in trucks in 2019 where he would finish 12th in the season standings. 

While racing full time in the Truck Series, Burton would also make nine starts in the Xfinity Series, racking up an average start of 9.1 and average finish of 16.8 showing his skill at qualifying but showing a lack of finish when it came to putting a whole race together. For Burton, the best was yet to come as 2020 would be Burton’s best season in the top three NASCAR series to date.

Burton Hits His Stride in Xfinity

2019 was not kind to Burton in the Xfinity series as he would only be able to manage a single top five finish but he would not let this deter him. In 2020, Burton looked like he was on a mission (from God), winning four races, leading just shy of 300 laps (291), and 22 top 10 finishes. 

This breakout season would not translate to Playoff success as he would wind up 8th in the season rankings. Burton would have lackluster finishes at both Talladega and the Charlotte Road Course to close out the Round of 12 and eliminate Burton from a shot at the championship. He would follow up these disappointing runs with a finish outside the top 10 at Kansas. He would bounce back in a major way by winning in back to back weekends at both Texas and Martinsville but he would not make the Championship 4. The season was not completely trophy-less as Burton would bring home the 2020 Xfinity Series Rookie of the Year award. 

Burton Cannot Replicate Breakout Season Success

Burton, unfortunately, would not be able to follow up his rookie campaign with the same success in 2021. Racing a full season for JGR, he would amass a second straight season with 22 top 10s but would go winless all year. Despite this, he would make the Round of 8. 

Burton’s tendency to be inconsistent reared its ugly head as his finishes in the Round of 12 were 10th at Las Vegas, 25th at Talladega (crash) and 15th at the Charlotte Road Course. He would start the Round of 8 with a strong 8th place finish at Texas but would crash out of the Kansas race, finishing 34th and following that up with a 20th place finish at Martinsville to eliminate him from a shot at the title for a second straight year.  

Burton Makes Full Time Cup Series Debut

These two years in Xfinity had caught the eye of a couple different Cup Series teams. Harrison Burton would make his Cup Series debut in a one-off race in 2021 at Talladega driving the number 96 Gaunt Brothers Toyota. He would start the race in 39th and finish 20th. His full-time Cup Series career would start in 2022 with Burton piloting the historic number 21 Wood Brothers machine. 

The season would start on a very sour note as Burton would crash out of both Daytona and Fontana, finishing 39th and 33rd respectively. This would become a trend on the year as Burton would finish the year with six DNF’s due to crashing out. The season wasn’t all doom and gloom as he would manage two top 10 finishes and a top five finish on the year, finishing 27th in the season standings. While not an ideal start to his Cup Series career, it was just one season, and both Burton and his fans were hoping it wasn’t a sign of things to come. 

Burton’s Struggles Continue in 2023

2023 saw Burton take a surprising step back from his rookie campaign, seeing his average start and average finish fall as well as dropping down to 31st in the season standings. For a brief comparison, Matt DiBenedetto finished the 2021 season in the same car with nine top 10’s and three top fives while finishing 18th in the season standings, just missing out on a playoff spot. In 2023, Burton would have another six DNF’s due to crashes/mechanical issues.

This regression would continue to date in 2024 as Burton is currently sitting in 34th in points and has a single top 10 finish in 20 races. This led Wood Brothers to make the decision to move on from Burton in favor of Cup Series rookie Josh Berry. Harrison Burton has not currently announced his plans for the 2025 season

Where Do We Go From Here?

The last section was very doom and gloom but it is hard to look for highlights when a car that was a borderline playoff ride in 2021 is currently outside the top 30 in points. To be fair to Burton, he is only 23 years old and will turn 24 in October this year. He is still very young and growing pains are expected as we have even seen some veterans struggle to adapt to the Next Gen car. Given some more time to develop in the lower series, I think we could see a much more competitive Burton in the coming seasons.  

While the Wood Brothers is not exactly a fourth Penske car, it is prepared in the same shop and Burton is given all the same tools that the other Penske drivers are given. Being 23 years old and racing in the top series of NASCAR, Burton is likely several years away from his prime, but it will be interesting to look forward to.

What Have We Learned So Far?

The case of Harrison Burton is a curious one but I believe it can be boiled down very easily. He was given opportunities due to the funding and sponsors backing him and was not allowed the proper time to develop. 

Looking at his time in the top three NASCAR series, Burton has only won four races and they all came in the same season in the Xfinity Series. He went winless in 40 races in the Truck series and now has gone winless in two full Cup Series seasons and so far in the 2024 season. 

Coming into this season, it is not a surprise that Burton was on the hotseat. Being in an “ugly duckling” situation with someone taking his seat next season will not help Burton this season and I believe that we will likely see Burton in the Xfinity Series next year. The real question is with who? Burton saw most of his success in both Xfinity and Trucks with Toyota so it would not surprise anyone to see him return under the Toyota banner but with a lot of silly season rumors not yet settled, his plans will likely not be revealed until one or two more big names finalize their 2025 plans. 

In Conclusion

Before ending this article, I want to make one thing very clear. I think Harrison Burton is an incredibly talented racecar driver. While the results are not there, it is evident that Burton is trying his hardest every week and I think he has the raw talent to be a regular in the Cup Series but I think he will likely need a couple more seasons in the Xfinity Series to round out his skillset before we see Burton reach his full potential.