Story By: JORDAN WOOD / WOOD BROTHERS RACING – AVONDALE, AZ – Harrison Burton and the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane team closed the 2023 Cup Series season with a 26th-place finish in Sunday’s Cup Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway.
Burton started the 312-mile race from 25th place and finished 27th in the first 60-lap Stage, which ran under the green flag from start to finish.
In the second Stage, Burton finished 26th but was lapped by the leaders in the closing laps.
In the third and final segment of the race, Burton spent countless laps in the Free Pass position as the first driver a lap down, but the caution flags didn’t fly in his favor and he ended the race in 26th place, one lap down.
The finish of Sunday’s race saw Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney, a former Wood Brothers driver, outrun his fellow championship contenders to capture his first Cup Series title.
It also was the first Cup title for Blaney’s crew chief Jonathan Hassler, whose first stint as a Cup crew chief was on the No. 21 Ford in 2021. Blaney drove for the Wood Brothers from 2015-2017 and delivered the team its 99th win at Pocono in his final season aboard the No. 21 Ford.
Team Penske, which fields three Cup entries including the No. 12 team of Blaney and Hassler, shares an alliance with the Wood Brothers and the No. 21 team.
“All of us here at Wood Brothers Racing are really happy for Ryan, Jonathan, everyone on the No. 12 team and all their families,” Eddie Wood said. “Every team starts the season hoping to win a championship, but it’s extremely difficult to actually do it.
“To see people we’ve worked with accomplish what they did makes us very proud. They were – and still are – part of our Wood Brothers racing family.”
Wood also congratulated team owner Roger Penske,Team Penske and all the people at Ford Performance for their second-straight title in NASCAR’s elite division.
“It’s a victory for all of us in the Ford camp,” he said.
Burton and the No. 21 team will return to the track on Feb. 4 for the non-points Clash at the Coliseum in Los Angeles. The points-paying, season-opening Daytona 500 gets the green flag on Feb. 18.