Harrison Burton and the No. 21 Freightliner Mustang Dark Horse had an encouraging run in Sunday’s AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Texas Motor Speedway, leading the race at one point and putting themselves in position for a good finish before being collected in a crash during the first attempt at an Overtime finish. Their 28th place finish did not accurately reflect Burton’s and the Freightliner team’s performance in a race that saw the yellow flag fly on 16 occasions for 72 laps.
Burton started 29th and ended the first 80-lap Stage in 34th place, one lap behind the leaders.
In the second Stage, Burton and the team worked their way back onto the lead lap following a caution period at Lap 102 for a multi-car crash.
The Freightliner team made a pit stop during a caution period at Lap 114 and joined the top 25 by Lap 130.
When another caution flag flew for a crash by Josh Berry, Burton stayed on the track while others made pit stops and lined up seventh for the ensuing restart, at Lap 143.
Burton held his own in the top 10 for the remainder of Stage Two, finishing seventh and earning four Stage points.
The team elected to stay on the track during the caution period following the end of the Stage and moved up to third place for the Lap 173 restart.
Burton made a move to the inside and took the lead on the opening lap and held it for seven circuits.
As drivers with fresher tires overtook him, Burton continued to run in the top 10 until Lap 192, and he was in 12th place when he made a green-flag stop at Lap 199.
He returned to the track in 33rd place and began reclaiming spots. After another stop he was in 24th place for a restart with eight of the scheduled 267 laps left to run.
When yet another wreck sent the race into Overtime, Burton was in 21st place for the restart but was involved in an incident with Kaz Grala that brought out yet another yellow flag.
After a pit stop for tires and fuel, Burton returned to the track in 32nd place and drove up to 28th by the time a wreck by Ross Chastain on the second attempt at an Overtime finish froze the field on the white-flag lap.
Burton and the team now head to Talladega Superspeedway for next Sunday’s GEICO 500.
WBR PR
