In the world of NASCAR, redemption stories are rare, but when they happen, they're unforgettable. Harrison Burton, who recently found himself without a ride for the 2025 season, delivered a career-defining performance at the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway. In a race filled with firsts, dramatic moments, and high stakes, Burton emerged victorious, securing his first-ever NASCAR Cup Series win and making a powerful statement in the process.

Everyone who has ever been fired from a job before has dreamed about finding a way to stick it to their old employer. Back in July, Wood Brothers Racing announced a multiyear contract for Josh Berry, which would start in the 2025 season. Which meant that the current driver of the #21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford, Harrison Burton, was on his way out and without a ride for next season.

Burton had gone winless thus far for his young career heading into the Coke Zero Sugar 400 on Saturday. Every race until the end of the season for Burton was basically an audition for either a big team to pick him up, or possibly a new team in 2025 searching for the right driver to launch their brand in NASCAR’s Cup Series.

While Burton was still searching for his first win, there were a number of other “firsts” on this night.

The front row of the race was made up ironically of the two cars from Front Row Motorsports, Michael McDowell (#34), and Todd Gilliland (#38). This was the first time that Front Row Motorsports had swept the front row for qualifying in any race.

Another story line for this race was RCR’s Kyle Busch. Busch is still hunting for that first win of the season with just Daytona and Darlington races left on the regular season schedule to see who is going to the Playoffs. If Busch does not get a win the remainder of the season, it would be the first time in nearly 20 years that he had gone without at least one win in a scheduled season. On top of that, Busch was far enough back in the playoff standings that the only way he would make the playoffs is to get a win at either Daytona or Darlington.

One thing that is definitely NOT a first for Daytona is the “Big One.” With the speeds sometimes reaching over 200 miles per hour at this SuperSpeedway, the question is not “if” the Big One will happen, but “when.” Which is one of the main reasons why fans love to watch every time NASCAR comes to Daytona.

Early on during the race, while there were plenty of “hold your breath” moments during Stage 1, the race remained without incident to the end of the stage. Josh Berry would take Stage 1, which was the first ever stage win for the 33 year old Rookie.

During the end-of-stage pit stops, things got really hot. Literally!

While attempting to leave his pit stall, the #99 of Daniel Suarez got caught up by traffic in front of his stall, forcing him to stop and wait. The #11 of Denny Hamlin, who was behind Suarez and had already tried to move forward to leave the pits was also stuck behind Suarez. And that’s when another first happened (for my eyes anyways). The backfire from Hamlin’s car actually ignited the spilled fuel in Suarez’ box and the fire spread quickly to the back of the #99.

Suarez, unaware of the extent of the fire, finally exited his pit and drove off to get back onto the track. But the fire did not go out. Suarez found himself hustling back to pit road (while still on fire), got to his pit, and was immediately pulled from his vehicle while emergency crew extinguished the fire. Suarez said that he could feel the heat, but could not see the extent of the fire behind him since he does not use a rearview mirror in his car, only a rearview camera. But by the time he got back to the pits, he could see the flames close to him in the car and immediately got out of the car.

Hamlin’s car was (for the most part) undamaged as none of the vehicle was actually ignited by the fire and he was able to rejoin the pack during the regular rotation.

Restarting for Stage 2, the Top 5 were Joey Logano, Chris Buescher, Austin Cindric, Josh Berry, and Ross Chastain.

On lap 60 (25th lap of the 60 lap Stage 2), that’s when the first “Big One” happened. Noah Gragson (#10) spun out off the nose of the #7 of Corey Lajoie.

The cars involved in the wreck in numerical order:
1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 19, 24, 31, 41, 43, 45, 48, 54.

Ryan Preece (#41), Denny Hamlin (#11), Noah Gragson (#10), and Chase Elliott (#9) were all unable to continue.

All other cars had used the opportunity to pit (fuel only) during this time. Chris Buescher (#17) would come out of the pits with the lead, followed by Brad Keselowski (#6), Joey Logano (#22), Bubba Wallace (#23), and Josh Berry (#4).

With 13th-16th Playoff positions still up in the air, the standings at this point in the race were:
13th- Chris Buescher (Leader of the race)
14th- Martin Truex Jr. (+74)
15th- Ty Gibbs (+43)
16th- Bubba Wallace (+34)
17th- Ross Chastain (-34 under the cut line)

Only the top 16 spots make it into the playoffs after the final race of the regular season at Darlington next week.

The field took the green flag for the start of Stage 2 on Lap 66.

Kyle Larson took the lead on Lap 78 of the second stage. This is notable because Larson, who is widely known as one of the top drivers at any racing level, has yet to have a Top 5 finish at Daytona.

Two incidents occurred almost simultaneously on Lap 81. The #43 of Erik Jones blew his right front tire, and just behind him, the #16 of Shane Van Gisbergen blew his engine. SVG said later “I didn’t hear or feel anything, it just expired.” SVG did get some really good news earlier in the week as Trackhouse Racing announced he would be the third member of the team for the 2025 season. So even with the DNF, SVG still has a lot of positive to look forward to in the future.

Erik Jones would stay on the lead lap, and finish the race in 17th.

The restart on Lap 89 (7 to go in Stage 2) had Joey Logano up front, followed by Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney, Brad Keselowski, and Chris Buescher.

Stage 2 would finish without another incident with Logano, Blaney, Keselowski, Larson, and Gilliland in the Top 5.

Another round of pit stops at the end of the stage shook up the starting order with Michael McDowell retaking the lead, followed by Josh Berry, Kyle Busch, Justin Haley, and Harrison Burton.

Playoff Bubble on the restart:
13th- Michael McDowell (Leader)
14th- Martin Truex Jr. (+62)
15th- Ty Gibbs (+42)
16th- Chris Buescher (+21)
17th- Bubba Wallace (-21 below cut line)
18th- Ross Chastain (-24)

The caution would come out again due to an incident on Lap 140. John Hunter Nemechek (#42) would spin out after being hit (bumped) in the rear by Kyle Larson (#5), and he would also make contact with the #51 of Justin Haley. All vehicles were able to continue.

The Race off of pit road saw Austin Cindric (#2) retake the lead, with Brad Keselowski (#6), Kyle Larson (#5), Michael McDowell (#34), and Kyle Busch (#8) round out the Top 5 for the restart with just 16 laps to go.

With 13 laps to go, NASCAR penalized the #6 of Brad Keselowski as it appeared he jumped the restart. Only the car in the #1 position is allowed to initiate the restart once they enter the restart zone. It was shown that Keselowski restarted before CIndric and he was forced to do a pit road run through.

And maybe it was a good thing that Keselowski was not up front with Cindric.

With just nine laps remaining in the race, another “Big One” happened. Cars involved in the wreck:

2, 5, 12, 17, 20, 22, 23, 24, 33, 34, 45, 47, 48, 51.

Austin Cindric was able to maintain the lead with only minor damage in the accident. He was followed by Josh Berry, Kyle Busch, William Byron, Christopher Bell, and Harrison Burton.

With just two laps left, another accident happened, this one bringing out the red flag as Josh Berry would find himself upside down, skidding toward the infield wall and hitting the infield barrier head-on. Also involved in the wreck was Austin Cindric, Austin Dillon (#3), William Byron (#24), Austin Hill (#33), Todd Gillilland (#38), Erik Jones (#43), and Carson Hocevar (#77).

On the restart, Kyle Busch would be in P1, followed by Harrison Burton, Christopher Bell, Parker Retzlaff (#62), and Cody Ware (#15).

Kyle Busch would jump out to the lead on the inside lane, but in the final lap, Harrison Burton would get a huge push from behind from Parker Retzlaff, surging him to the front. Burton would do everything he could to block Kyle Busch would was frantically changing lanes down the stretch to try and get around Burton. Burton almost spun out with his final block of Busch when the two made contact, sending Harrison below the yellow line. This is allowed by NASCAR if a car is sent below the yellow line due to contact. It was clear that Busch made contact with him, and Burton was able to hold off one of the best drivers in NASCAR history for his first win of his career!

Kyle Busch would finish in second, followed by Christopher Bell, Cody Ware, and Ty Gibbs.

Not only was this Burton’s first win of his career, but it gave Wood Brothers racing their 100th win for the historic race team. To put the cherry on top, Harrison Burton’s father was in the NBC Sports booth calling the race and he celebrated with a big fist punch in the air, caught on camera. Harrison Burton said he cried his entire victory celebration.

Not bad for a kid who was recently fired.

Kyle Busch, who is in dire need of a win to get into the playoffs, said that the only thing he could have done differently was to wreck him. And we know from Kyle’s teammate Austin Dillon, that NASCAR wasn’t going to let that fly. He did the right thing.

With Harrison Burton’s win locking him into the 13th spot in the playoff picture, here’s what the bubble looks like now:

14th- Martin Truex Jr. (+58)
15th- Ty Gibbs (+39)
16th- Chris Buescher (+21)

Below the cut line:
17th- Bubba Wallace (-21)
18th- Ross Chastain (-27)
19th- Kyle Busch (-106)

Bubba Wallace and Ross Chastain still have a shot to get into that final spot, but they will need a LOT of luck….or a win.
Kyle Busch will definitely need a win to get into the playoffs. The good news for Kyle is he has been driving very well as of late, and has a win at the track (May, 2008) with Joe Gibbs Racing. Most recently (May, 2024), Busch finished 27th after qualifying 11th. Busch has qualified in the top 15 in each of his last eight attempts. HIs best finish with RCR was 7th in May of 2023.

Harrison Burton's first win at Daytona is more than just a career milestone; it's a story of perseverance, skill, and seizing the moment. With this victory, Burton not only locked himself into the playoffs but also etched his name into the storied history of Wood Brothers Racing with their 100th win. As the NASCAR season heads to Darlington, the drama of who will make the playoffs continues, but one thing is clear—Harrison Burton has proven that anything is possible in this sport.