Harrison Burton Making Late Model Return With RWR
Harrison Burton will drive a late model for the first time in six years this weekend. (Peter Casey/Nigel Kinrade Photography)
SOUTH BOSTON, Va. – Even amid the start of the NASCAR Xfinity Series playoffs, Harrison Burton has a chance to return to his short-track roots this weekend in front of his hometown fans.
Revealed Tuesday morning via the zMAX CARS Tour entry list and confirmed by Burton during Xfinity Series Playoff Media Day, the 24-year-old driver will take the reins of Rick Ware Racing’s No. 51 pro late model Saturday night at South Boston Speedway.
Burton will chase a victory in the CARS Pro Late Model Tour’s return to the four-tenths-mile oval, a place where he, his cousin Jeb, father Jeff, and uncle Ward all raced in the early stages of their careers.
The event – one night after the Xfinity Series playoff opener at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway – will mark Burton’s first major late model appearance since the 2019 Snowball Derby and first touring pro late model start since SpeedFest in 2015 at Cordele (Ga.) Motor Speedway.
Burton expressed plenty of enthusiasm for the endeavor Tuesday morning, noting that it came together “pretty quickly and relatively recently” while he worked to lock into the Xfinity Series postseason.
“Super cool opportunity,” Burton, who drove for RWR in May’s NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway, told Motorsports Hotspot. “Thank you to everyone at Rick Ware Racing, because this opportunity really just came up out of the blue.
“After getting to run the All-Star race for them, I’ve had a bit of a working connection to them … and they’re trying to build their late model program up. I had a great deal of success growing up in late models, and it’s kind of where I cut my teeth, but I haven’t been able to run any late model stuff really recently. So I’m really excited.”
Burton hopes to put behind him the sting of his most recent try in late model competition, when he failed to qualify for the Snowball Derby six years ago in his family-owned No. 12 Fury Race Cars-built chassis.
But more than that, he relishes the opportunity to return to the track that built his family’s early legacy in short-track racing. Burton won at South Boston in 2017 on his way to a championship in what was then known as the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East (now the ARCA Menards Series East).
“It’s been a long time since I've been in a pro late model, but they’re such fun cars to drive and to do it at South Boston – where all the Burtons have raced, such a special place to us – means a ton to me,” Burton noted.
Burton is a multi-time pro late model race winner in both the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing at Florida’s New Smyrna Speedway and with the touring PASS Pro Late Model Series, but all of those wins came during a two-year span from 2013-’14.
Meanwhile, the RWR late model program has won three pro late model races with the CARS Tour this year, two with Luke Baldwin and one with Carson Ware – the youngest son of team owner Rick Ware.
Most importantly about Saturday’s South Boston event is that it comes one night after the first race of the Xfinity Series playoffs at Bristol, meaning that it won’t take any focus away from Burton and AM Racing’s pursuit of a championship at NASCAR’s second-highest level.
“To have this chance be after the Xfinity race is huge, because I can put all my focus on the Xfinity car first and put everything I have into that, and then just go enjoy running a late model Saturday night,” Burton said. “It’s something that came together that definitely wasn’t on my radar, but I’m super thankful for everyone at Rick Ware Racing that’s helping put it together.”
Saturday’s CARS Tour program from South Boston will be streamed live via FloRacing, the official broadcast partner of the series. Coverage begins at 4:30 p.m. ET.
