Story By: JORDAN WOOD / WOOD BROTHERS RACING – FORT WORTH, TX – Harrison Burton and the No. 21 DEX Imaging team are headed into this weekend’s Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Texas Motor Speedway with an eye on the future.
Crew chief Jeremy Bullins said the DEX Imaging team plans to spend the remainder of the 2023 season putting themselves in position to dramatically improve their performance next year.
“For our team headed to Texas, we are just trying to learn and look ahead to next year as we continue to work with Harrison and understand what he’s looking for from our cars to find speed,” Bullins said. “Obviously, a year from now we want to be in the Playoffs, so we need to approach this week as an opportunity to learn as much as we can and have some good notes to work from.”
Bullins said that while the results don’t reflect it, he and Burton have made significant gains since Bullins returned to the Wood Brothers No. 21 team where he started his Cup Series career.
Burton has qualified near the back all three weeks, but the team has found speed as the races unfolded, allowing him to work his way into the upper half of the field only to lose positions due to crashes and other issues before the conclusion of the races.
“Bristol was our third race working with Harrison, and while the starting positions or finishing positions won’t show it, we have made a ton of progress during the races,” he said. “We feel like some good finishes are right around the corner if we can get some momentum going before the season ends.”
Practice for the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 is set for Saturday at 11:35 a.m. Central Daylight Time (12:35 Eastern) and will be followed immediately by qualifying.
Sunday’s 267-lap race is scheduled to start just after 2:30 p.m. (3:30 p.m. Eastern) with TV coverage by USA Network.
Stage breaks are planned for Laps 80 and 160.