Story By: JORDAN WOOD / WOOD BROTHERS RACING – LOUDON, NH – After lining up deep in the starting field, Harrison Burton and the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane team came away from Sunday’s rain-delayed Crayon 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway with a hard-fought 20th-place finish.
Burton took the green flag from 28th place and was in the top 25 after just four laps. He was running 26th when the yellow flag flew at Lap 28 and made his first pit stop of the day during the ensuing caution period.
He ran inside the top 25 for the remainder of the first 70-lap Stage and ended that segment in 24th place.
After a trip to pit road for fresh tires and fuel he again raced in the top 25 until making another stop, under the green flag, at Lap 129.
Burton was running in the top 20 but a lap down to the leaders when the caution flag flew for a spin by Erik Jones.
The Motorcraft/Quick Lane team elected to take the wave-around and were immediately rewarded when Aric Almirola brought out another yellow flag with a spin on the restart.
While the track was being cleared from Almirola’s incident, Burton headed to pit road for tires and fuel.
He rejoined the race in 19th place and ended the second Stage in 16th.
Having made a pit stop late in the second Stage, Burton stayed on the track at the end of the Stage and moved up to sixth place for the restart.
He held on to a spot in the top 10 until Lap 203 then ran in 12th place until a green-flag pit stop at Lap 237.
Burton dropped back to 20th but cycled back into 13th place when that round of pit stops ended at Lap 258. He made his final stop at Lap 272 and rejoined the race in 18th place.
A series of late-race caution flags and restarts saw Burton drop as low as 25th before rallying on the final green flag run to claim his seventh top-20 finish of 2023.
Burton and the No. 21 team now turn their attention to Pocono Raceway and Sunday’s Pocono 400.