FONTANA, Calif. – Holding off teammate Riley Herbst with a determined run over the final 19 laps, 19-year old rookie Harrison Burton charged to his first NASCAR Xfinity Series victory in Saturday’s Production Alliance Group 300 at Auto Club Speedway.
Working his way through traffic in the closing laps in his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, Burton beat Herbst’s No. 18 Camry to the finish line by 0.455 seconds, with Austin Cindric trailing the winner by 0.642 seconds in third.
The victory was a redemption of sorts for Burton, son of former NASCAR Cup Series star Jeff Burton, after last year’s winless season in the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series.
“Heck yeah, man, this is awesome,” said Burton, who protected the top lane over the final 19-lap green-flag run. “All we’ve heard is that we can’t do it… we’ll never do what last year’s (No. 20 team with driver Christopher Bell) did, but we’re off to a good start. It feels so good to win.
“There’s times when you go through a little bit of a drought, and you doubt yourself. But to get a win feels so good, especially after last year. We struggled a little bit. Once we moved up to the top (of the track) at the end, it was going to be really hard for (Herbst) to pass us. I was trying to be smart and not put it in the wall in the lead. The whole team was huge. I’m just so happy, man. This is something I’ve worked so hard for, and my team’s worked so hard for.
“Hell yeah, we won—that’s awesome!”
Herbst, who has yet to win a race in one of NASCAR’s top-three national series, felt both he and Burton proved a point with their one-two run on Saturday. Herbst felt he needed a few more laps to make a winning pass.
“I’m really, really proud of Harrison as well,” Herbst said. “We’ve been working so hard this offseason. We’ve heard it all—everything—(that) we’re not ready for it, that we can’t do this in this series. Well, keep on talking, because we’re coming for more runs this year, for sure.”
In a third Joe Gibbs Racing car, the No. 19 Toyota, Brandon Jones led the first 73 laps in sweeping both the first and second 35-lap stages of the race. But Jones suffered a tire rub and subsequent flat tire after contact in traffic on a restart on lap 102 of 150 and was relegated to 30th at the finish, four laps down.
Ryan Sieg ran fourth behind Cindric, posting his second straight top-five and third straight top-ten to start the 2020 season. Justin Haley was fifth, followed by Anthony Alfredo (sixth in his first start in the series), Daniel Hemric, Ross Chastain, Jeremy Clements, and Josh Williams.
Chase Briscoe, last week’s winner at Las Vegas, led 16 laps, but his No. 98 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford spun off turn four on lap 26 while chasing Burton for the lead. Briscoe finished 19th, two laps down.
Burton leaves California with the series lead, ten points ahead of second-place Briscoe. Cindric is 18 points back of Burton in third, followed by Sieg, who trails the leader by 24.
Note: Coincidentally, Burton’s uncle, Ward Burton, collected his first Xfinity Series victory on February 29, 1992—also a ‘Leap Day’ win.
NASCAR Xfinity Series Race – 22nd Annual Production Alliance Group 300
Auto Club Speedway
Fontana, California
Saturday, February 29, 2020
1. (2) Harrison Burton #, Toyota, 150.
2. (5) Riley Herbst #, Toyota, 150.
3. (7) Austin Cindric, Ford, 150.
4. (8) Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, 150.
5. (9) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 150.
6. (13) Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, 150.
7. (4) Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet, 150.
8. (6) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 150.
9. (11) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 150.
10. (25) Josh Williams, Chevrolet, 150.
11. (19) Myatt Snider, Chevrolet, 150.
12. (10) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 150.
13. (17) Alex Labbe, Chevrolet, 150.
14. (29) Brett Moffitt(i), Chevrolet, 150.
15. (36) Vinnie Miller, Chevrolet, 150.
16. (15) Austin Hill(i), Toyota, 149.
17. (14) Michael Annett, Chevrolet, 149.
18. (31) Tommy Joe Martins, Chevrolet, 149.
19. (3) Chase Briscoe, Ford, 148.
20. (27) Chad Finchum, Toyota, 148.
21. (30) David Starr, Chevrolet, 148.
22. (20) Ray Black II, Chevrolet, 148.
23. (35) Robby Lyons II, Chevrolet, 147.
24. (26) BJ McLeod, Chevrolet, 147.
25. (23) JJ Yeley, Chevrolet, 147.
26. (12) Noah Gragson, Chevrolet, 147.
27. (32) Matt Mills, Chevrolet, 146.
28. (16) Jesse Little #, Chevrolet, 146.
29. (34) Josh Bilicki, Toyota, 146.
30. (1) Brandon Jones, Toyota, 146.
31. (22) Joe Graf Jr #, Chevrolet, 143.
32. (18) Bayley Currey(i), Chevrolet, 120.
33. (21) Brandon Brown, Chevrolet, Engine, 115.
34. (28) Kyle Weatherman, Chevrolet, Engine, 97.
35. (33) Stephen Leicht, Toyota, Fuel Pump, 78.
36. (24) Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, Fuel Pressure, 38.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 121.417 mph.
Time of Race: Two Hrs, 28 Mins, 15 Secs. The Margin of Victory: 0.455 Seconds.
Caution Flags: Eight for 36 laps.
Lead Changes: 13 among eight drivers.
Lap Leaders: B. Jones 1-73;D. Hemric 74-77;H. Burton # 78-85;D. Hemric 86-90;J. Allgaier 91-93;J. Haley 94-96;C. Briscoe 97-100;D. Hemric 101;C. Briscoe 102-109;R. Chastain 110-113;C. Briscoe 114-117;H. Burton # 118-129;M. Annett 130;H. Burton # 131-150.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Brandon Jones one time for 73 laps; Harrison Burton # three times for 40 laps; Chase Briscoe three times for 16 laps; Daniel Hemric three times for ten laps; Ross Chastain one time for four laps; Justin Haley one time for three laps; Justin Allgaier one time for three laps; Michael Annett one time for one lap.
Stage 1 Top-Ten: 19,98,20,10,8,18,39,22,9,1
Stage 2 Top-Ten: 19,8,20,98,22,18,10,7,39,1