If Harrison Burton and Wood Brothers Racing are to score a solid finish in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series event at Las Vegas, they’re going to have lots of adversity to overcome.
Burton, in his second-year of competition in the NASCAR Cup Series, was headed down the frontstretch at full-speed when fluid from his No. 21 Ford Mustang got on his right-side tires, sending him for a ride in the first corner.
Incident in Group B practice with the No. 21. pic.twitter.com/yxN7rS27Ir
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) March 4, 2023
For a second, it looked like Burton was going to be able to pull off an incredible save, and salvage his primary car for Sunday’s 400-mile contest. However, mid-drift, the car overcorrected and slammed into the outside wall head-on.
At this time, Wood Brothers Racing has yet to confirm if they’ll move to a backup car. However, the extensive damage to the No. 21 seems like it’d be difficult to fix in an adequate manner for Sunday’s race.
“I don’t know. I went sideways really quickly,” said Harrison Burton. “I looked at my dash because I had my water temp flash hot, looked down and then back up to go in the corner, and as soon as I turned in, it was really sideways. I don’t know if that’s what happened or not. I’d like to see it before I say that.”
Burton enters Sunday’s event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway 19th in NASCAR Cup Series point standings, after scoring a top-15 result last weekend at Auto Club Speedway.
“That sucks so bad. I felt like we had a decent car – fired off OK with a lot of grips, then all of the sudden, there wasn’t,” Burton continued. “Pretty upset I guess, I feel fine. It was definitely a hard hit. Anytime you get head-on with that speed, it doesn’t feel great. But, I feel fine – just wish I could have that corner back. I don’t know what exactly caused it, but I wish I had a chance to avoid it. I guess that’s part of it.”
