AM Racing, Harrison Burton continue redemption with Iowa top-5
NEWTON, Iowa — AM Racing and Harrison Burton continued what’s become a redemption year for themselves with a fifth-place finish Saturday at Iowa Speedway.
Burton’s No. 25 Morton Buildings Ford unloaded with speed in practice, running second-fastest and sixth-fastest on the 10-lap average. Although he started 17th, he drove to ninth in the opening stage and maintained. The second stage saw him finish eighth, tallying up five valuable stage points on the day.
In the closing laps, Burton seized upon a few late restarts to jump to third and battle for second with 18 laps to go. While JR Motorsports’ Ross Chastain and Connor Zilisch passed Burton late, the No. 25 car still streaked across the finish line in fifth.
Both the team and the driver are far from where they were a year ago.
On Aug. 2, 2024, AM Racing was 33rd in Xfinity owner points and just a few races removed from releasing their full-time driver. In Cup, Harrison Burton sat 34th and knew for a month he was going to be out of a ride for the following season.
Exactly one year later, AM Racing is in position to make the Xfinity playoffs with Burton — who has netted the team four of their five best finishes in 88 entries since their series debut at Daytona in 2023.
Burton and AM Racing are 17 points above the NASCAR Xfinity Series playoff cutline, ahead of Ryan Sieg. Burton is 19 points ahead of cousin Jeb Burton.
Four races remain until the playoffs. The next race is Aug. 9 at Watkins Glen. After Watkins Glen, these races remain: Aug. 22 at Daytona, Aug. 30 at Portland, Sept. 6 at World Wide Technology Raceway Gateway.
Categories
Discover more from The Racing Experts
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com