Although Harrison Burton led a total of 19 laps to earn his third win of the year at the Memphis 125, presented by Auto Zone, race No. 6 of the NASCAR K&N Pro Series, the driver of the No. 12 Dex Imaging Toyota felt he didn’t have the best car on the track. Chase Purdy led a dominating 61 laps and Todd Gilliland led 45 laps before running into problems past the race’s halfway mark. This opened the door for Burton, who rolled off the grid in third.
“When we’re in position and the opportunity falls to us, we end up in Victory Lane,” Burton said after the race. “Part of a lot of hard work and us being in the right position at the right time to capitalize on when other guys’ days go wrong. We didn’t have the best car and we knew that going into the race. Our strategy was to be there at the end and that’s what happened.”
Burton has been on a busy schedule lately. After making his second season start in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series at Dover International Speedway on Friday where he finished 13th in Kyle Busch Motorsports’ Dex Imaging No. 51 Toyota, he flew to Memphis.
“I’m fortunate to drive for really great people and surround myself with really great people that take care of me and I try to take care of them the best I can,” Burton said. “I’m a little bit on the irresponsible side, they make sure I show up where I need to be. Everyone is cool to work with and I’m just lucky to be a part of it.”
Chase Cabre failed to lead any laps but still came home second. “We had the car beneath us all race long and just kind of did what Mark Green, my crew chief told us to do, which was race the racetrack,” the No. 4 Lincoln Electric/Max Siegal Inc. Toyota driver said. “This track is really easy to over drive and it’s really easy to mess yourself up when you are trying to get around cars or over drive it. I don’t think I focused on anybody when I was out there. Just focused on making every lap as hard and clean as I could without over driving and it paid off.”
Cabre’s second-place run is a confidence booster. “We struggled the first couple of races of the season,” he said. “To come out here, it’s a blessing to run second and to be parked on the front stretch. We just keep going from here.”
This is the first time in eight years since any NASCAR Series has set a wheel in the Memphis area. “They’re awesome,” Burton said of the fans who attended the .750-mile Memphis International Raceway. “They came out and were rowdy and had a good time. These people have been waiting for NASCAR to be back for so long and to see them excited about it and rejuvenated by us being back, it’s really cool.”
Cabre agreed.
“This is one hell of a racetrack, it’s really fun,” he said. “The amount of fans we had out here is incredible for a stand-alone K&N race. I was glad to see all the fans out here. Without them, we wouldn’t be doing what we’re doing today.”
Burton holds the lead in the K&N Pro Series East Standings with 262 points. After finishing eighth at Memphis, Gilliland trails him with 234 points. Cabre is currently seventh with 209.
The Memphis 125, presented by Auto Zone took one hour, seven minutes and 43 seconds to run. There were a total of six cautions for 24 laps.
The race will air on Thursday, June 8 at 8 PM EST on NBCSN.
RESULTS
1. Harrison Burton
2. Chase Cabre
3. Travis Miller
4. Ronnie Bassett Jr.
5. Jay Beasley
6. Hunter Baize
7. Collin Cabre
8. Todd Gilliland
9. Dillon Bassett
10. Trey Hutchens
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