Harrison Burton and the No. 21 DEX Imaging team used a successful mid-race strategy play to overcome a poor starting position and post a 21st-place finish in Sunday’s Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway.
Burton lined up 31st for the start of the 300-lap run on the 1.3-mile concrete oval.
The first 90-lap Stage ran caution free, and Burton moved up to 28th place before making a green-flag pit stop at Lap 42. He finished that segment in 28th but was one lap down to the leaders.
In the second Stage he was maintaining his position when the caution flag flew at Lap 140 during a round of green-flag pit stops.
Crew chief Brian Wilson elected to stay on the track during the ensuing caution period and take the wave-around, which put the DEX Mustang back on the lead lap.
Wilson’s gamble paid off almost immediately as the caution fell on the restart. That allowed the No. 21 crew to put fuel and fresh tires on their Mustang during the caution period.
That sequence of events propelled Burton into the top 20 and he ended Stage Two in 18th place.
Burton kept the DEX Mustang in the top 20 until making his final pit stop, under the green flag, at Lap 242. He came one spot shy of finishing in the top 20 but still wound up with his ninth top-25 finish in 17 races this season.
Burton and the Wood Brothers team now begin preparing for next Sunday’s street race in Chicago, the first event of its kind for the Cup Series.
WBR PR
