NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Overview
Event: CarShield 200 presented by CK Power, Race 11 of 23, 200 Laps – 35/35/90; 200 Miles
Location: Word Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway in Madison, Ill. (1.25-mile oval)
Date/Broadcast: June 22, 2019 at 10 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR 90
The Beat on Burton:
- Coming off top-five performances in both the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series at Iowa Speedway in Newton, Harrison Burton heads to World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway for Saturday’s Gander Trucks CarShield 200 presented by CK Power. Burton equaled his career-best Gander Trucks performance by finishing third in his Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) Tundra at Iowa last Sunday, and then a couple hours later hopped in his Joe Gibbs Racing Supra for his second career Xfinity Series start, where he brought home a career-best fourth-place finish.
- Saturday will be Burton’s first Gander Trucks Series start at World Wide Technology Raceway. He qualified third and finished third in the ARCA Racing Series event at the 1.25-mile oval last year.
- Across 10 Gander Truck Series starts this season, the 18-year-old has posted four top-five and six top-10 finishes while recording an average starting position of 7.4 and average finish of 10.5. Burton sits sixth in the championship standings but eighth on the Gander Trucks Playoff Grid, 42 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 43 points over Sheldon Creed.
- Veteran crew chief Mike Hillman Jr.’s drivers have posted one win, four top-five and seven top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 7.2 across 8 starts at World Wide Technology Raceway. Todd Bodine led 66 laps en route to victory at the Illinois track in 2006. Across 19 starts working together since October of 2017, Hillman Jr. and Burton have posted an average starting position of 8.2 and an average finish of 8.7.
- 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
Coming off a strong weekend at Iowa, does that give you confidence heading to Gateway?
“Anytime you come off good finishes, it makes you more excited for the next weekend because you want to advance a couple more spots and maybe get a win. We’re really excited for Gateway, we know we have a pretty good package there, so I’m excited to go see how it drives. I’ve never raced a truck there – but I do have some experience in an ARCA car there. I’m excited to go drive around that place and figure it out.”
Does Gateway have a unique layout?
“Gateway is a really unique track, there is a lot of nuances about it. Turns 3 and 4 are a lot like a mile-and-a-half track and Turns 1 and 2 are like a short track – it’s really, really cool. Some people are downshifting there, so you have to do your homework and figure out what you think will work best for you. Just like a lot of these places, it all starts before you get to the race track. It seems the more you prepare, the better off you are. That goes for Gateway as well — you just have to prepare well and do your studying.”
Does all the seat time you’re getting recently across a variety of series help?
“Anytime I can get laps on the track, it’s helping me now. I feel like I’m getting in a rhythm and able to run well in any series that I get into. Pretty excited to go and hopefully continue that in the Truck Series. Coming of a good run at Iowa — a good third-place finish — hopefully we can go and advance two more spots and put the Safelite Toyota Tundra in victory lane.”
Harrison Burton Career Highlights
- Across 25 career Gander Trucks starts has collected one pole, 78 laps led, eight top-five and 13 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 10.3
- Has one top-five and two top-10 finishes in two NASCAR Xfinity Series starts for Joe Gibbs Racing this season
- 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 Safelite AutoGlass Tundra:
KBM-56: The No. 18 Safelite AutoGlass team will unload KBM-56 for Saturday’s CarShield 200 at World Wide Technology Raceway. Burton has raced this chassis twice this season; an eight-place finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway in its debut and then at the June Texas race where he was relegated to a 31st-place finish after an early accident.
KBM Notes of Interest
- KBM drivers have collected two wins, 363 laps led, four top-five and nine top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 13.4 across 16 starts at World Wide Technology Raceway.
- Christopher Bell was victorious at the 1.25-mile track in 2016 and Darrell Wallace Jr., won the 2014 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.
