NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Overview
Event: M&M’s 200, Race 10 of 23, 200 Laps – 60/60/80; 175 Miles
Location: Iowa Speedway in Newton (0.875-mile oval)
Date/Broadcast: June 15, 2019 at 8:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR 90
The Beat on Burton:
- Harrison Burton heads to Iowa Speedway in Newton for Saturday’s M&M’s 200. Morton Buildings, the industry leader in post-frame construction, will adorn the hood of the No. 18 Tundra for the first of two races this season. The Illinois based company will also serve as Burton’s primary sponsor July 27 at Pocono Raceway in Long, Pond, Pa. Burton has one pole, one top-five and one resulting in an average finish of 7.0 across two NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series starts at Iowa. Additionally, he has one top-five and two top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 4.5 across two ARCA Racing Series starts and one top-five and an average finish of 9.5 across two NASCAR K&N Pro Series East stats at the 0.875-mile oval.
- Across nine Gander Truck Series starts this season, the 18-year-old has posted three top-five and five top-10 finishes while recording an average starting position of 6.6 and average finish of 11.3. He qualified 11th and finished fifth at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth the series’ most recent stop. Burton sits eighth in the championship standings, 26 points ahead of his Kyle Busch Motorsports’ (KBM) teammate Todd Gilliland for the eighth and final spot in the playoffs. The talented teenager currently leads the Rookie of the Year standings by 33 points over Sheldon Creed.
- Burton will be performing double duty this weekend at the 0.875-mile oval. In addition to competing in Saturday’s NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series event, he will pilot the No. 18 DEX Imaging Tundra for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) in Sunday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) race. The second-generation driver finished 10th in is NXS debut at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway in April.
- Burton will be piloting one of his favorite Tundras, KBM-35, in Friday’s 200-lap event at the 0.875-mile oval. He captured his first-career Gander Truck Series pole with the Toyota last June at Iowa, went on to lead 30 laps and posted a career-best third-place finish. The second-generation racer equaled his career-best third-place finish and led a race-high 46 laps with KBM-35 at ISM Raceway in Avondale, Ariz., last November and once again this year finished third with the Toyota at Dover (Del.) International Speedway.
- Veteran crew chief Mike Hillman Jr.’s drivers have posted one pole, one top-five and two top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 16.5 across 8 starts in the Hawkeye State. Hillman Jr. was Burton’s crew chief last year when he won the pole, led 30 laps and finished third at Iowa. Across 18 starts working together since October of 2017, Hillman Jr. and Burton have posted an average starting position of 8.1 and an average finish of 9.0.
Harrison Burton, Driver Q&A
After a strong run last year are you excited to get back to Iowa?
“Really, really excited to get back to Iowa — it’s one of my favorite race tracks Multiple grooves, lots of hard racing, short-track racing. Morton Buildings is onboard again, so maybe that’s good luck — we’ll see. They always have a big group of people that come out to watch the races and are always pumped up — that’s cool to be a part of. I’m excited to go get after it.”
Will getting extra track time with the Xfinity Series practices on Saturday help you for the Gander Trucks race?
“I think that running any laps, anywhere, the more laps you get the better you are going to be. I’m really excited to try and hop back and forth between Xfinity and the truck, knowing that one will probably help me for the other. I’ll get out of the Xfinity car having more laps than I would just running the truck and that will hopefully help me in the Truck Series and vice versa the Truck Series will help me in the Xfinity Series. Hopefully we can come out of there with really good finishes — hopefully wins.”
How have you prepared for doing double duty?
“Double Duty is always tough — it’s going to be a super-long day. Iowa, that race is normally hot, so you have to hydrate – hydration starts early in the week. I’ve been in the gym a lot recently, even before double duty – that always helps keeping your heart rate low and helps keep you focused. There’s a lot of things that you can do to prepare yourself to go and do the double duty.”
Harrison Burton Career Highlights
- Across 24 career Gander Trucks starts has collected one pole, 78 laps led, seven top-five and 12 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 10.6
- Has three career ARCA Racing Series victories across 15 starts, including the 2019 season opener at Daytona.
- Captured the 2017 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East title after registering a series-high five wins
- Has numerous Super Late Model victories including the 2018 Rattler 250 at South Alabama Speedway in Kinston, Ala., and the 2017 ARCA/CRA SpeedFest at Crisp Motorsports Park in Cordele, Ga.
- Son of former Monster Energy Cup Series driver and current NBC Sports Analyst Jeff Burton.
Harrison Burton’s No. 18 Morton Buildings Tundra:
KBM-35: The Morton Buildings team will unload KBM-35 for Saturday’s M&M’s 200 at Iowa Speedway. Burton has piloted the same Tundra to a trio of career-best third-place finishes; earlier this year at Dover (Del.) International Speedway and last year at Iowa in June and at ISM Raceway in Avondale, Ariz., in November. The Toyota’s lone victory came with Daniel Suarez at ISM Raceway in November of 2016.
KBM Notes of Interest
- KBM drivers have collected three wins, four poles, 525 laps led, nine top-five and 18 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 8.4 across 25 starts at Iowa. A KBM driver has earned the pole for four of the last five events at Iowa, including Burton last year.
- William Byron led a race-high 107 laps en route to the victory at Iowa in 2016. Erik Jones took the checkered flag in both 2014 and 2015, combining to lead 243 of 400 laps in those events.
- KBM holds the NGOTS records for most career wins (74) and most wins in a single season (14 in 2014). In addition to collecting a series-record six Owner’s Championships, the organization has produced two championship-winning drivers; Erik Jones (2015) and Christopher Bell (2017).
- The No. 18, the number which was on the first Tundra that went to victory lane for KBM in 2010, has 21 career victories.
