Getty Harrison Burton will pull double-duty at Bristol Motor Speedway.
A rookie NASCAR Cup Series driver is expanding his schedule for Easter weekend. Harrison Burton, the driver of the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford, will pull double-duty at Bristol Motor Speedway.
David Gilliland Racing, which fields three entries in the Camping World Truck Series, teased the announcement on the morning of April 5. The team provided a look at the No. 17 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford F-150 and asked for guesses about the driver’s identity. Several people guessed Kevin Harvick, Ryan Preece, or Joey Logano, but they were incorrect. DGR waited until the afternoon before revealing that Burton will make his first Truck Series start since the 2019 season.
Y’all didn’t see this one coming. 👀
Welcome @HBurtonRacing to the @hbpizza ride for the Pinty’s Truck Race on Dirt!
Burton’s busy weekend will begin on Friday, April 15. He will take part in two separate practice sessions while gaining more experience on the dirt track. Burton will return to the No. 17 on Saturday, April 16, for qualifying races and the Pinty’s Truck Race on Dirt (8 p.m. ET, FS1).
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Once Burton completes the Truck Series practices on April 15, he will immediately climb into his regular car. He will have two practice sessions in the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford. The Cup Series qualifying races will take place on April 16 prior to the Truck Series race. Burton’s weekend will come to a close with the Food City Dirt Race on Sunday, April 17 (7 p.m. ET, FOX).
Burton Has Some Truck Series Experience
GettyHarrison Burton prepares for a Truck Series race at Talladega Superspeedway.
The son of Jeff Burton has 75 Xfinity Series races and four wins on his career resume, and he is eight races into his Cup Series career. As a Truck Series driver, however, he only has 38 starts spread across four seasons.
Burton made 15 starts in the Truck Series between 2016 and 2018, and he posted seven top-10 finishes and four top-fives. He moved to a full-time schedule in 2019 while driving the No. 18 entry for Kyle Busch Motorsports. Burton did not reach Victory Lane, but he added another 11 top-10s and seven top-fives to his career total while finishing 12th in the championship standings.
Burton moved up to the Xfinity Series full-time in 2020 and won the first four national series races of his career. He reached the playoffs and finished eighth in the championship standings. Burton finished out his Xfinity Series career in 2021 with another playoff appearance before moving up to the Cup Series.
The North Carolina native will now make his return to the Truck Series for a one-off start. He will take on the dirt version of Bristol Motor Speedway where he has no prior experience, and he will try to turn in strong performances in two different races.
What About Joey Logano?
🚨BIG ANNOUNCEMENT🚨- I’m Truck Series racing at Bristol!
4/16 – 8PM ET on @FS1
With DGR confirming that Burton will make his return to the Truck Series for the first time since 2019, there are now more questions about a different driver. Who will provide a truck for Joey Logano as he returns to the series for the first time since his win at Martinsville in 2015.
Logano revealed on March 25 that he would make his return to the Truck Series with a start in the Pinty’s Truck Race. He did not reveal anything at the time about the team that he will join. He only tagged Planet Fitness as a hint about his primary partner.
FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass listed DGR as a potential option for Logano on the day of the reveal, tweeting that he had seen the 2018 Cup Series champion entering the Truck Series team’s hauler. Adding Burton to the lineup for Bristol takes the No. 17 entry off the list of possibilities, but DGR could potentially add a fourth vehicle for Logano.
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