BY: MITCHELL BREUER

The future is bright for Harrison Burton, who will move to the NASCAR Cup Series to drive the No. 21 for Wood Brothers Racing next season. However, despite having his next move laid in cement, he remains focused on his current playoff run in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, and is still haunted by the past troubles.   

While there are a lot of positives surrounding Burton now, there was some doubt about how he would do at his current level. In 2019, he endured a forgettable truck season for Kyle Busch Motorsports, as he did not win or even make the playoffs.  

“There is one regret in my whole entire racing career; I have won at every single level that I have been on, besides the truck series,” Burton told News From The Pits. “That bothers me. That was a goal that I had that I did not succeed in, and two years later, I still think about that season and get frustrated about it.”  

While time has passed, that competitive spirit is still inside Burton, who said that frustration could return if he is unable to capture the Xfinity championship in what may be his final attempt at winning it.  

“I feel like I have had teams capable of winning championships, I feel I am a championship caliber driver, so going and doing it is very important to me,” Burton said. “I am very motivated to try and make it happen, I guess I have a taste of that feeling in the truck series and having regret about it. Obviously, I have won races in the Xfinity Series and run well but, the time has come and go win the championship and win these races in the playoffs, hopefully we can make it happen.”  

Burton will enter the final seven-race stretch as the eighth seed, with eight playoffs points at his disposal. Him and the No. 20 team are still looking for their first win of the 2021 season, though he has scored nine top-five’s and 19 top-10’s, tied for the most in the series.  

He will look for better success in the playoffs this time around, as last year he was quickly eliminated after the Round of 12.