NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Overview
Event: JEGS 200, Race 6 of 23, 200 Laps – 45/45/110; 200 Miles
Location: Dover (Del.) International Speedway (One-mile oval)
Date/Broadcast: May 3, 2019 at 5 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR 90
The Beat on Burton:
- Harrison Burton and the Safelite AutoGlass Racing team head to Dover (Del.) International Speedway for Friday’s JEGS 200. The 17-year-old driver has two prior Gander Truck Series starts at the Monster Mile, a 13th-place finish in 2017 and a fifth-place result in last year’s event. Additionally, he has one win (2017), two top-five and three top-10 finishes across three K&N Pro Series East starts at the concrete track.
- Burton will be piloting one of his favorite Tundras, KBM-35, in Friday’s 200-lap event at the one-mile oval. He captured his first-career Gander Truck Series pole with the Toyota last June at Iowa Speedway in Newton, 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.
- An early accident in the Gander Truck Series’ last stop at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth relegated Burton to a 31st-place finish and caused him to drop four spots to fifth in the championship standings after five races. The talented teenager leads the Sunoco Rookie of the Year standings by 15 points over Sheldon Creed.
- Veteran crew chief Mike Hillman Jr. and the No. 51 team that worked with Burton for his eight-race schedule in 2018 have moved over to guide the 18-year-old’s rookie campaign in the No. 18 Tundra this year. Hillman Jr. is a two-time champion crew chief in the 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. Burton has produced one pole, five top-five and nine top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 8.3 in 13 starts with Hillman Jr. calling the shots since he joined KBM in October of 2017.
- Hillman Jr.’s drivers have posted one pole, 30 laps led, three top-five and four top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 14.7 across 12 starts at Dover.
- 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 NGOTS schedule in 2019.
Harrison Burton, Driver Q&A
What did you do to stay busy during the break in the Gander Truck Series schedule?
“I’ve been racing still – I ran my first Xfinity Series race during the break and was going to run some Super Late Model races but they got cancelled and rained out. It’s been a lot of fun and kind of nice to get a break – not because I wanted to get a break from the racing, but because I needed it to get the chance to get myself better. I’ve been working really hard on my craft and I think when I get back in the Safelite Tundra at Dover hopefully we will see some results from that.”
You’ve had success at Dover winning in the K&N Pro Series East and you also have a top-five finish in trucks. Is it a track that fits your driving style?
“For sure — I love Dover. I love Bristol and Dover and fast, high-banked tracks — they fit my style very well. I enjoy it and hopefully we can continue that success and build on that. Last year, we didn’t have the best truck at the beginning, but we kept working on it and made it pretty good. We just need to start the weekend of better than we did last time, get a good qualifying spot and we’ll be there for the win — hopefully.”
Are you looking forward to having more races on the schedule over the next two months?
“That’s something that every driver looks forward to — racing every weekend and kind of getting that feeling where there is next weekend that we can look forward to even if we have a bad weekend. Like we ended on a bad note right before the break at Texas and that has just been looming over my head all of the break. The whole time I’ve been thinking about what I could have done different and what we could have done different to be in a better position. I’m looking forward to getting back in the Safelite Tundra and hopefully winning some races right in a row.”
Harrison Burton Career Highlights
- Across 20 career NGOTS starts has collected one pole, 77 laps led, five top-five and nine top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 11.3.
- Has three career ARCA Racing Series victories across 13 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, two poles, 142 laps led, 12 top-five and 14 top-10 finishes and an average finish of 3.3 across the series’ 14 events.
- 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 Friday’s JEGS 200 at Dover. Burton piloted the same Tundra to a pair of career-best third-place finishes 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-35 Performance Profile:
| Starts | Wins | Average Start | Average Finish | Laps Led |
| 11 | 1 | 4.5 | 12.4 | 247 |
KBM Notes of Interest
- KBM drivers have recorded three wins, four poles, 820 laps led, eight top-five and 12 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 10.6 across 22 career starts at the Monster Mile.
- Owner-driver Kyle Busch has earned all three of his organization’s victories at Dover (2011, 2013 and 2014).
- KBM holds the Gander Trucks records for most career wins (72) 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.
