This season in a nutshell for Harrison Burton has been all about winning.
Whether Burton is driving a NASCAR K&N Series car or a super late model, the 16-year old has been relishing in success.
Harrison Burton’s 2017 all about the wins
As both of the NASCAR K&N Pro Series come to Iowa Speedway this weekend for the East-West Challenge, Burton leads the East series in not only points, but also wins.
Burton has won four races so far including three out of the last five coming into Iowa.
“It’s been fun,” Burton said. “We haven’t had a whole lot of time to sit back and enjoy it because we have always been getting ready for the next race coming up.”
Burton, over the course of the year, has been racing in a multitude of different types of cars including the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and Super Late Model’s.
“I’ve been pretty happy with how it’s gone so far,” Burton said. “But we have to stay working and trying to get better because the guys that haven’t won as much as we have are [eager] to win these races. Their working just as hard as we are.”
Burton’s hard work showed in January when he outdueled Monster Energy NASCAR Cup regular, Martin Truex Jr., at a Super Late Model at SpeedFest 2017, an event in Georgia that marks the start of the asphalt season in motorsports.
“To beat a [great driver] like that is really cool and really humbling,” Burton said. “It made me want to go win more races, that’s for sure.”
Burton appeared as though he had been running the cars for years on end, and it’s probably because he has.
The son of former NASCAR star Jeff Burton started racing Late Models when he was 11 before hopping in his first super late model when he was 13.
“I was one of the youngest to do it,” Burton said. “I [remember having] to get on a tire to just get into the racecar.”
That’s part of Burton’s versatility though, as he tries to get as much experience as he can in different cars.
“It’s challenging, but it also presents some positives as well,” Burton said. “Having the adaptability to drive different cars well help you out a lot. When you’re first trying to get into a race car and figure it out, it helps a lot that you’ve already tried to figure out other race cars before.”
This weekend, Burton will try and use that versatility as he tries to beat not only his fellow east series competitors, but also the K&N west crew as the East-West Challenge brings both tours together on the same track.
“It’s good for the sport in general,” Burton said. “If you can get some people out here that are here because of Xfinity, maybe they’ll like what they see.”
The green flag drops on Friday’s Casey’s 150 at Iowa Speedway at 7:30 p.m. CT
Standings
| NASCAR K&N Pro East Series Standings | |||||
| Position | Driver | Wins | Points | Behind | |
| 1 | Harrison Burton | 4 | 387 | – | |
| 2 | Todd Gilliland | 2 | 373 | 14 | |
| 3 | Chase Purdy | 0 | 335 | 52 | |
| 4 | Ronnie Bassett Jr. | 1 | 331 | 56 | |
| 5 | Ruben Garcia Jr. | 0 | 321 | 66 | |
| 6 | Chase Cabre | 0 | 312 | 75 | |
| 7 | Jay Beasley | 0 | 300 | 87 | |
| 8 | Dillon Bassett | 0 | 291 | 96 | |
| 9 | Hunter Baize | 0 | 283 | 104 | |
| 10 | Tyler Dippel | 0 | 283 | 104 | |
Main Photo
