It’s been a frustrating three years for Harrison Burton and Wood Brothers Racing, but after a surprise victory in Saturday’s Coke Zero Sugar 400, all of that pain has been washed away.
The Huntersville, North Carolina-native was able to make a last-lap move to the outside of Kyle Busch down the backstretch, thanks to a fantastic shove from Parker Retzlaff, allowing the No. 21 to be clear for the race lead and defend until the checkered flag.
Burton would end up being the first driver back to the start-finish line, beating Kyle Busch by 0.047 seconds.
The victory marked the 100th NASCAR Cup Series victory for Wood Brothers Racing, NASCAR’s longest-running organization, which last graced Victory Lane in June 2017 at Pocono with Ryan Blaney.
“I don’t know. I cried the whole victory lap. Obviously got fired from this job. I wanted to do everything for the Wood Brothers that I could,” said Burton. “They’ve given me an amazing opportunity in life. To get them 100 on my way out is amazing. We’re in the Playoffs now. Let’s go to Darlington and see what happens.”
Although Kyle Busch came up short of the victory needed to lock himself into the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, he did manage to record his best finish of the season, coming home in second place.
RESULTS: NASCAR Cup Series Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona
Christopher Bell finished off a pretty quiet evening with a strong third-place finish for Joe Gibbs Racing, moving into sixth in the regular-season point standings heading into the regular-season finale at Darlington.
In fourth place, Cody Ware scored a career-best finish in the No. 15 Jacob Companies Ford Mustang Dark Horse. The finish also matched the best-ever for Rick Ware Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Ty Gibbs rounded out the top five, putting together a much-needed points score for the Joe Gibbs Racing driver. Bubba Wallace finished just behind him in sixth, but still leaves Daytona well below the cutline.
Making his second NASCAR Cup Series start, Parker Retzlaff scored a seventh-place finish for Beard Motorsports, after pushing Burton to the victory. The NASCAR Xfinity Series regular has an impeccable record at the 2.5-mile superspeedway.
Brad Keselowski rebounded from a late-race restart violation to score a top-10 in eighth, as he slid his No. 6 Ford Mustang across the start-finish line Daniel Hemric recorded a fourth top-10 on the season for Kaulig Racing, with Chris Buescher rounding out the top-10.
With just Darlington separating the NASCAR Cup Series field from the Playoffs, Tyler Reddick holds a 17-point lead in the regular-season championship over Kyle Larson, and an 18-point advantage over Chase Elliott.
Next up, the regular-season finale at the 1.366-mile racetrack in Darlington, South Carolina.
