JUST IN: Harrison Burton responds to critics who don’t think he belongs in NASCAR Playoffs
Coming off of his win in the Coca-Cola Zero Sugar 400, Harrison Burton has heard all of the criticism from those in the NASCAR industry. Talk about reinstating the points requirement for the playoffs, whether the 21 team deserves to be in, and more was dominating the conversation this week.
Harrison Burton didn’t cheat. He didn’t bend the rules. Burton went out and won and under the current rules, that means he gets to go to the NASCAR Playoffs. Rules are rules.
Speaking to Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports, Burton was open about his critics. It doesn’t bother him, but he wants his race team to get the respect they deserve.
“No, not really, I don’t care. I get it, right?” Burton said. “We haven’t put the consistency together that some other guys have or whatnot. But also on the other hand, that was the rules before the year. So, if they change them next year, that’s fine but it doesn’t effect our situation right now. The only thing that’s frustrating is that I thought it kind of took away from the effort my race team put in.
“Those guys that deserve to be in the playoffs I feel like they’ve done a really good job all year. There is some of that but on the other hand, it’s the rules are the rules and we just showed up to a race and won the race and there’s not really much else you can do, right?. I didn’t say, ‘Hey, take Bubba out of the playoffs and put me in.’ I just won the race and that’s what happened. Now that we’re in the playoffs, we’re going to make the most of it and we’re going to earn our spot.”
Harrison Burton has time to prove he belongs.
Harrison Burton is going playoff racing
While Burton is just playing by the same rules as the rest of the field, it is hard to swallow that the car dead-last among full-time drivers is going playoff racing. That is a flaw in the system, and not Burton’s fault.
Still, we haven’t seen a lot out of Burton. He came into the Cup Series in the same rookie class as Todd Gilliland and Austin Cindric. Cindric has two career wins, including the 2022 Daytona 500. Gilliland has shown huge improvement and will be the face of Front Row next year.
In fact, both Cindric and Gilliland are top-20 in points this season. They both have multiple top-10 finishes. Both drivers have even led over 100 laps on the season. Burton has two top-10s this season, only 13 laps led and is 517 points behind the points leader, Tyler Reddick.
Harrison Burton is playing by the rules, but it’s understandable why people are critical. He hasn’t had a great season. There hasn’t been a lot of improvement on a week to week basis. But, that 21 car is going to be in the NASCAR Playoffs.
