In the season opener for the newly named ARCA Menards Series, Harrison Burton was nearly perfect. The Lucas Oil 200 at Daytona was the first superspeedway of the 18-year-old’s career. He ran up front the entire race and was there at the end when it counted.
On lap 3, Willie Mullins bumped Michael Self several times on the backstretch before eventually spinning Self, who was a favorite to win. After a restart on lap 8, Burton quickly assumed the lead again, blocking both lanes well, until Gus Dean was able to jump in front of him some ten laps later.
Right as this the lead pack was about to pit under green on lap 42, Eric Caudell was hit from behind trying to make his stop. The caution came out and Burton was able to pit under yellow and regain the lead. After two more yellows for Connor Hall’s and Thad Moffitt’s spins, Burton still maintained the lead with less than 10 laps remaining.
On lap 78 the 28 of Brandon McReynolds and the 4 of Todd Gilliland were hard-charging through the field. A slight slip up caused McReynolds to go around and bring out the yellow. On the ensuing restart in overtime, Burton got a huge push from Gilliland, his KBM Truck teammate, to pull away from the pack and fend off a charge from Christian Eckes and Natalie Decker. This win gives Burton three ARCA wins in twelve starts and makes him one for one on superspeedways.
Lucas Oil 200 driven by General Tire Results
- 20-Harrison Burton
- 4-Todd Gilliland
- 30-Grant Quinlan
- 15-Christian Eckes
- 43-Sean Corr
- 54-Natalie Decker
- 7-Codie Rohrbaugh
- 27-Travis Braden
- 02-Andy Suess
- 18-Riley Herbst
- 22-Connor Hall
- 52-Tyler Dippel
- 5-Bobby Gerhart
- 1-Chuck Hiers
- 55-Leilani Munter
- 11-Jason White
- 29-Derrick Lancaster
- 23-Bret Holmes
- 48-Brad Smith
- 63-Dave Mader III
- 77-Joseph Graf Jr.
- 06-Con Nicolopoulos
- 10-Tommy Vigh Jr.
- 09 CJ McLaughlin
- 28-Brandon McReynolds
- 32-Gus Dean
- 46-Thad Moffitt
- 61-J.J. Pack
- 35-Brenden Queen
- 36-Paul Williamson
- 25-Michael Self
- 69-Scott Melton
- 2-Eric Caudell
- 44-John Ferrier
- 3-Willie Mullins