Story By: JORDAN WOOD / WOOD BROTHERS RACING – MARTINSVILLE, VA – Harrison Burton and the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Mustang Dark Horse are set to start a season-best sixth in Sunday’s Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway.
Burton earned that spot with a lap at 95.603 miles per hour during the second round of qualifying Saturday afternoon. It was his best qualifying result since a third-place effort at Daytona in August, 2023. It was his best at Martinsville since a 10th-place start in October, 2022.
Burton was 14th on the speed chart in Saturday’s practice session, posting a best speed of 94.279 mph on the third of the 67 laps he ran in the session.
He was 18th fastest among drivers who ran 10 consecutive green-flag laps, averaging 93.367 mph from his 34th to his 43rd lap.
In the opening round of qualifying he was fourth in Group A with a speed of 95.932 mph.
“It’s been a good weekend so far, and I’m just really proud of our group,” Burton told reporters at the track. There have been a million opportunities for these guys to quit on themselves, quit on me, quit on this team. We keep swinging the hammer because we know days like this are possible.
“I wish it came more often so I could keep doing it with this group, but we know we can do it, so it’s time to execute on it tomorrow.”
Sunday’s 500-lap, 263-mile race is set to get the green flag just after 2 p.m., with TV coverage on NBC.
Stage breaks are planned for Laps 130 and 260.