A hard crash in practice on Saturday, likely caused by running over a lug nut that punctured the radiator in his No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Mustang, led to a long Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for Harrison Burton and his Wood Brothers team.
Burton, sliding in the fluid being released from his own car, slammed head on into the outside wall. That forced the team to go to a back-up Mustang and to miss qualifying.
He lined up on the back row for the start of Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 and moved up a few spots in the early going.
A lack of caution periods in the first Stage limited the opportunities to use pit strategy to move forward in the field and he ended the 80-lap Stage in 28th place, one lap behind the leaders.
The second Stage also ran under the green flag, and Burton finished that segment in 30th place, two laps down.
A yellow flag nine laps into the third segment of the race allowed the Motorcraft/Quick Lane team to take the wave-around, and Burton restarted in 29th place, one lap down.
He was gaining spots, but eventually had to make a green-flag stop for fuel, and that dropped him to 29th place, two laps down.
A caution flag with four of the scheduled 267 laps left to run set up an Overtime finish.
Burton pitted for fresh tires, and when the green flag was displayed for a two-lap dash to the finish he steered his way past spinning cars to pick up the only two positions available to him. He came home 26th, tops among drivers two laps down.
Burton and the No. 21 team now turn their attention to next Sunday’s Ruoff Mortgage 500 at Phoenix Raceway.
WBR PR
