NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Overview
Event: UNOH 200 (Race 17 of 23), 200 Laps – 55/55/90; 100.6 Miles
Location: Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway (0.533-mile oval)
Date/Broadcast: Aug. 15, 2019 at 8:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR 90
The Beat on Burton:
- The NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series heads to Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway for Thursday night’s UNOH 200. It will be Burton’s first Gander Trucks start at the high-banked oval, but he visited victory lane at the World’s Fastest Half Mile in the K&N Pro Series East race in 2017 and was the runner-up in the 2018 event. The talented teenager made his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut for Joe Gibbs Racing at Bristol earlier this season, where he qualified fifth and finished 10th.
- Burton has posted seven top-five and nine top-10 finishes while recording an average starting position of 7.4 and an average finish of 10.8 across 16 Gander Truck Series starts this season. Burton finished the regular season sixth in the point standings, but did not qualify for the playoffs because four drivers behind him in points collected a victory.
- The second-generation driver has posted a Gander Trucks career-best third-place finish six times across his 31 career starts. Four of the six have come will piloting the same Tundra that he will get behind the wheel of on Thursday night, KBM-35.
- Burton’s crew chief, Mike Hillman Jr., is a two-time champion atop the pit box in the Gander Truck Series. He guided Todd Bodine to Toyota’s first-ever National Series title in 2006 and the duo won the championship again in 2010. Across 26 starts working together since October of 2017, Hillman Jr. and Burton have posted an average starting position of 8.0 and an average finish of 9.3. Hillman Jr.’s drivers have posted one pole, four top-five and six top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 12.0 across 11 starts at Bristol. He posted three runner-up finishes with Bodine at Bristol (2005, 2006 and 2008).
- Safelite AutoGlass, the nation’s largest provider of vehicle glass repair and replacement services, will adorn the hood of Burton’s Tundra for 19 of the 23 events on the Gander Trucks schedule in 2019.
Harrison Burton, Driver Q&A
What goals do you have for the rest of the season?
“Basically, just to make everyone else’s lives really hard who are in the playoffs. We are going to go out and try to win races and take away points from those guys – go take it for ourselves. It’s frustrating not being in the playoffs. I feel like we were kind of hitting our stride near the end of the year – finishing in the top five regularly. Just mistakes earlier in the year caught up to us and we just didn’t make it happen in Michigan. Now it is going to be fun to just go and hunt wins.”
You have had success at Bristol in the K&N Pro Series East. What do you enjoy about racing at Bristol?
“I love Bristol — it’s one of my favorite race tracks. It’s a high-speed, high-intensity race track, lot of grip, so it’s a lot of fun for the drivers to get after it. I’m excited to roll down there and try to make it happen. I think we’re going to have a good Safelite Tundra and can go win.”
Harrison Burton Career Highlights
- Across 31 career Gander Trucks starts has collected one pole, 88 laps led, 11 top-five and 16 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 10.8.
- Has one top-five and two top-10 finishes in three NASCAR Xfinity Series starts for Joe Gibbs Racing this season.
- Has three career ARCA Racing Series victories across 16 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 Safelite AutoGlass Tundra:
KBM-35: The Safelite AutoGlass team will unload KBM-35 for Thursday’s UNOH 200 at Bristol. Burton has finished third with this Tundra four times overall and in each of his last three starts driving it, most recently at Iowa Speedway at Newton. Christopher Bell captured the pole and led 31 laps with KBM-35 filling in for Burton, who was forced to miss the race due to illness, in last year’s Gander Trucks race at Bristol before being relegated to a 28th-place finish due to a mechanical issue.
KBM Notes of Interest
- KBM drivers have collected three wins, four poles, 534 laps led, seven top-five and 11 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 13.1 across 21 starts at Bristol
- Owner-driver Kyle Busch has collected all three of his organization’s victories at the half-mile oval, winning the Gander Trucks race as a part of his historic Bristol Sweeps in 2010 and 2017 and he also won the 2013 event.
- 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.
