Burton wins Daytona thriller with dad on the call
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Out of his ride and far removed from the playoff picture, Harrison Burton changed his fortunes with a lap to remember Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway.
Burton, 23, passed two-time Cup Series champion Kyle Busch on the final lap in overtime to pick up his first career victory and a spot in NASCAR’s postseason.
Burton, who already lost his ride in the famed No. 21 Ford with Wood Brothers Racing next season, took the lead thanks to a huge push from little-known Parker Retzlaff.
Busch fought back and had a chance down the stretch. He even got to Burton’s bumper and forced Burton below the double yellow line. But NASCAR officials ruled the contact caused Burton to cross the line and did not penalize him.
“Besides just flat-out wrecking him, there was nothing else I could do,” Busch said.
Busch finished second, followed by Christopher Bell, Cody Ware and Ty Gibbs. It was Burton’s first win in 98 career Cup starts, and it was the 100th victory for the Wood brothers.
“I cried the whole victory lap,” Burton said. “I, obviously, got fired from this job. I wanted to do everything for the Wood brothers that I could. They’ve given me an amazing opportunity in life and to get them [No.] 100 on my way out is amazing. We’re in the playoffs now. Let’s go to Darlington and see what happens.”
Burton’s dad, former NASCAR driver Jeff Burton, called the race for NBC Sports and radioed down to offer his congratulations. He also hustled down from the broadcast booth to celebrate with his son in victory lane.
“It’s been the hardest three of years of my life, obviously the hardest three years for some of these guys’ lives,” Harrison Burton said. “To win it the way we just did it, to beat the best in the business — Kyle Busch — across the line, it’s pretty fantastic.”
No one saw it coming, even though Daytona often provides unique winners. Burton had one top-five finish and five top-10s in his three-plus years driving at NASCAR’s top level.
Now, he gets to vie for a championship that would be even more improbable.
Thirteen drivers are locked into the 16-man playoff field thanks to wins: Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Bell, Tyler Reddick, William Byron, Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, Brad Keselowski, Austin Cindric, Joey Logano, Daniel Suarez, Alex Bowman and Burton.
Five other winless drivers are vying for the three remaining spots: Martin Truex Jr., Gibbs, Chris Buescher, Bubba Wallace and Ross Chastain. The regular season ends next week at Darlington.
All five contenders were involved in crashes at Daytona. The scariest ones came late.
MORE AERIALS
Josh Berry‘s No. 4 Ford flipped and slammed into an inside retaining wall while upside down and sliding on its roof. Berry had to wait several minutes inside his car as safety crews flipped the car over. But Berry flashed a thumbs-up to the crowd after getting helped out.
Berry was leading the race with two laps to go when Austin Cindric got turned sideways by Busch and slammed into Berry.
It was the second time in less than a week that a Cup car flipped. Corey LaJoie went for a wild ride at Michigan International Speedway on Monday, and NASCAR modified the cars in hopes of raising liftoff speed and keeping cars on all four tires.
“We got to figure out how to keep cars on the ground,” driver Joey Logano said. “We’re not doing very well right now.”
Michael McDowell‘s No. 34 Ford looked like it was headed for a flip just a few laps earlier. Cindric turned McDowell sideways with while bump-drafting, and McDowell’s car lifted off the ground after getting hit in the driver’s-side door by Logano.
McDowell’s car stopped just short of flipping.
PIT ROAD MELTDOWN
Daniel Suarez’s No. 99 Chevrolet had a meltdown on pit road — literally.
Suarez’s trunk caught fire following a pit stop, a strange series of events that ended his night after 37 laps.
It started when Suarez and Denny Hamlin got stacked up behind Harrison Burton on pit road. Hamlin’s engine seemed to backfire while his exhaust hovered over spilled fuel. That sparked a fire that spread to the read of Suarez’s car. By the time Suarez turned a lap under caution, the fire had engulfed the entire rear of his car.
“Just a bad deal,” Suarez said. “I could feel heat in my back, but I could not see it. Very unfortunate.”
UP NEXT
NASCAR moves to Darlington Raceway for the last chance for drivers to secure those coveted playoff spots.
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez, like all football coaches, wants his players to show up on time, work hard and play their best.
Oh, and another thing: Don’t dance on TikTok.
“They’re going to be on it, so I’m not banning them from it,” he said Monday. “I’m just banning them from dancing on it. It’s like, look, we try to have a hard edge or whatever, and you’re in there in your tights dancing on TikTok, ain’t quite the image of our program that I want.”
Making TikTok dance videos is a popular activity among high school- and college-age users of the social media platform. Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter, Boise State star Ashton Jeanty and Nebraska’s Dylan Raiola are among college football players who have posted dance videos.
Rodriguez is beginning his second stint as Mountaineers coach. He said he has talked to his players about the tendency in society to emphasize the individual rather than the team and that banning TikTok dancing is something he can do to put the focus where he thinks it belongs.
“I’m allowed to do that. I can have rules,” he said. “Twenty years from now, if they want to be sitting in their pajamas in the basement eating Cheetos and watching TikTok or whatever the hell, they can go at it, smoking cannabis, whatever. Knock yourself out.”
As for now, he said: “I hope our focus can be on winning football games. How about let’s win the football game and not worry about winning the TikTok?”
Dallas Stars forward Roope Hintz will be sidelined for a week with a facial injury but avoided a fracture.
General manager Jim Nill said Tuesday that Hintz has to keep his heart rate down for 5-7 days to avoid pressure or swelling.
Hintz, 28, was struck in the face by a puck midway through the second period in Saturday’s 5-4 loss at Edmonton. He did not return.
Hintz is tied for second on the Stars in goals (25) and is fourth in points (52) through 59 games this season.
He has 362 points (172 goals, 190 assists) in 451 career games in seven NHL seasons. Dallas drafted him in the second round in 2015.
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