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 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.
Meanwhile, Dawsonville's Chase Elliott had his worst outing of the season, completing just 61 laps. However, he remains in third place overall in the Cup points standings. Elliott has one win, seven top 5 finishes and 12 top 10 finishes in 2024.
The 23-year-old 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 finishes 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.
