Burton keeping his cool under pressure of sophomore slump

Harrison Burton hears all the speculation about his future with Wood Brothers Racing, but all it is, for now at least, is just that -- speculation.

“A lot of the silly season stuff, for me, has been interesting for sure to hear about,” Burton said. “I don’t know where rumors come from for a lot of those. I see it and get surprised sometimes. I haven’t seen one yet that’s been right because I don’t even know what’s going on for next year yet.”

Burton’s sophomore season in the famed No. 21 Ford is winding down. There haven’t been many highlights: Burton is 30th in the NASCAR Cup Series championship standings with two top-10 finishes, 20 laps led, and an average finish of 23.2.

There have been two races where Burton felt he had a legitimate shot to win in a season that has otherwise been a struggle. Burton led nine laps late in the Daytona but was caught in an accident in overtime. He ran a quiet and competitive race at Darlington Raceway, finding himself near the front on a pair of late restarts and finishing sixth.

There are 12 races left in the season.

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“It’s fairly easy for me because I’m happy where I am, and I hope to continue to race where I am,” Burton said of tuning out the speculation. “It’s fairly easy for me to just go to work with the guys that I’ve worked with over the last year and a half or so. It’s not super distracting at this point.”

Burton is the third driver the Wood Brothers have worked with in the last five years. The most successful during the stretch has been Matt DiBenedetto, who earned the organization a playoff berth in 2020, finishing 13th in the championship standings with 11 top-10 finishes.

Wood Brothers Racing was last in victory lane in the Cup Series in 2017 with Ryan Blaney. The organization’s next victory will be its 100th.