- Harrison Burton and the No. 18 Safelite AutoGlass team will be looking to build on the momentum of a strong showing last week at Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway as the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series (NGOTS) heads to Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway for Friday night’s Strat 200. Burton finished second and third, respectively, in the first two stages at Atlanta last week, but ended the event with an undeserving eighth-place finish after getting shuffled back on the final restart. With his solid day, the second-generation racer moved up 12 positions to fifth in the NGOTS championship standings. After two races, he leads the Sunoco Rookie of the Year standings by 11 points over Sheldon Creed.
- The talented teenager will be making his first start at Las Vegas in any series. He has made three NGOTS starts on mile-and-a-half tracks since turning 18 last October. Across those three starts, Burton has two top-10 finishes and an average finish of 8.3. His best result on 1.5-mile track was a sixth-place finish at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth last November.
- Although Burton has no prior experience at Las Vegas, crew chief Mike Hillman Jr. has been to victory lane twice at the venue. He called the shots for KBM owner-driver Kyle Busch’s win last September and guided Todd Bodine to victory in 2005.
- The veteran crew chief and the No. 51 team that worked with Burton for his eight-race schedule last season have moved over to guide the 18-year-old’s rookie campaign in the No. 18 Tundra this year. Hillman Jr. is a two-time champion crew chief in the Truck Series. He guided Bodine to Toyota’s first-ever National Series title in 2006 and the duo won the championship again in 2010. Burton has produced one pole, four top-five and eight top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 7.9 in 11 starts with Hillman Jr. calling the shots since he joined KBM in October of 2017.
- Burton led a race-high 48 laps en route to the victory while making the first superspeedway start of his career in the ARCA Racing Series season opener at Daytona. The victory was Burton’s third career ARCA Racing Series victory across just 12 starts.
- Safelite AutoGlass, the nation’s largest provider of vehicle glass repair and replacement services, will adorn the hood of Burton’s No. 18 Tundra for 19 of the 23 events on the NGOTS schedule in 2019.
Does your strong run at Atlanta give you confidence heading into Las Vegas this week?“For sure — pretty good run at Atlanta, but I still look back at the tape and see I can do some things better and be better. The last restart didn’t go the way we wanted to, but the rest of the race I still could’ve found ways to be better and gain more positions. So, that’s what being young and learning is about. I’ll go into Vegas and look to apply those things that I’ve learned and hopefully get our Safelite AutoGlass Tundra to victory lane.” How do you prepare to race at a track that you’ve never competed at before?“A lot of the tracks that I’ll go to this year it’ll be for the first-time ever, so I’ve kind of got in a rhythm of how I prepare. Watching film, being in the simulators and asking Kyle, my dad (Jeff Burton), or Kevin Harvick — who are three resources that I have. Going in there with confidence, knowing that you’re here for a reason — you’re here to win races and you have to do this for your team. I think the biggest thing you can have going for you as a racer is confidence — the confident guys seem to do the best. You have to build that up and get that confidence going and I feel pretty confident going into Vegas.” Harrison Burton Career Highlights
- Across 17 career NGOTS starts has collected one pole, 77 laps led, four top-five and eight top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 10.5.
- Has three career ARCA Racing Series victories across 12 starts, including the 2019 season opener at Daytona.
- Captured the 2017 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East title after registering a series-high five wins, two poles, 142 laps led, 12 top-five and 14 top-10 finishes and an average finish of 3.3 across the series’ 14 events.
- Has numerous Super Late Model victories including the 2018 Rattler 250 at South Alabama Speedway in Kinston, Ala., and the 2017 ARCA/CRA SpeedFest at Crisp Motorsports Park in Cordele, Ga.
- Son of former Monster Energy Cup Series driver and current NBC Sports Analyst Jeff Burton.
Harrison Burton’s No. 18 Safelite AutoGlass Tundra:KBM-54: The Safelite AutoGlass team will unload KBM-54 for Friday night’s Strat 200 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Owner-driver Kyle Busch was victorious with this Tundra at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway last July. Burton raced this chassis once last season, earning a sixth-place finish in his first-ever NGOTS start on a mile-and-a-half track in November at Texas Motor Speedway. KBM-54 Performance Profile:
| Starts | Wins | Average Start | Average Finish | Laps Led |
| 3 | 1 | 5.3 | 11.0 | 43 |
KBM Notes of Interest
- KBM drivers have collected two wins (Erik Jones 2014, Kyle Busch 2018), two poles (Kyle Busch 2018, Noah Gragson 2018), six top-five and 10 top-10 finishes at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. They have earned a collective average start of 8.8 and average finish of 13.4 and have led 308 laps.
- KBM holds the NGOTS records for most career wins (69) and most wins in a single season (14 in 2014). In addition to collecting a series-record six Owner’s Championships, the organization has produced two championship-winning drivers; Erik Jones (2015) and Christopher Bell (2017).
- The No. 18, the number which was on the first Tundra that went to victory lane for KBM in 2010, has 21 career victories.
Kyle Busch Motorsports No. 18 Toyota Tundra 2019 NGOTS Box Score:
| Date | Site | Driver | Start | Finish | Laps | Laps Led | Status | Driver Pts./Pos. |
| 2/15 | Daytona | Burton | 4 | 18 | 89/111 | 0 | Accident | 19/17th |
| 2/23 | Atlanta | Burton | 2 | 8 | 130/130 | 1 | Running | 67/5th |
KBM PR
