Burton Rolls a Pair of Nines in Las Vegas

Harrison Burton qualified ninth and finished ninth in Friday night’s World of Westgate 200 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The top-10 finish was Burton’s 10th across 19 NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series starts this season.
 
Stage One Recap: 
  • Burton earned the ninth starting position in Friday afternoon’s qualifying session.
  • The 18-year-old rookie battled a tight-handling Safelite Tundra during the opening stage, but would cross the stripe in the eighth position on lap 30. 
Stage Two Recap:  
  • In an effort to give his young driver track position, veteran crew chief Mike Hillman ordered up a right-side tire and fuel stop with a major trackbar adjustment to try and improve the handling of the No. 18 Toyota.
  • Burton was scored in the second position when Stage Two went green on lap 36, but quickly found himself in the middle of a five-wide battle for position and two laps later had subsided to the 11th spot.
  • After two trucks running inside the top 10 had engines expire simultaneously, the field was slowed for the third time on lap 41. Burton gave up the eighth position to hit pit road for fresh left-side tires and fuel.
  • The Safelite Tundra was scored in the 19th position when the field went back green on lap 45. Over the final 15 laps of the stage, the talented teenager was able to work his way back up to the 11th position. 
Final Stage Recap:  
  • Hillman summoned his driver to pit road for a four-tire and fuel stop between stages. When the Final Stage went green on lap 67, Burton was scored in the 10th position.
  • After a quick caution, Burton had a solid restart and when the field was slowed for sixth and final time on lap 82 had advance up to the fifth spot.
  • The Safelite Tundra hit pit road for the final time and the over-the-wall crew administered a four-tire and fuel stop. With teams on varying pit strategies, Burton lined up 11th for the lap-86 restart.
  • Another strong restart allowed the second-generation driver to move up to the eighth spot on lap 87 and three laps later he had captured the seventh spot.
  • As the race proceeded caution free to the finish, Burton reported that something was ill with the handling of his Toyota and he would fall back to the ninth position when the field crossed the stripe to finish the race on lap 134.

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