What’s Happening?

Josh Berry was officially announced as the next driver of The Wood Brothers for 2025, leaving Harrison Burton out of a ride. With this opportunity out of the picture, what does Burton’s future look like?

• Burton struggled mightily with The Wood Brothers in the last three seasons. He has only one top-5 finish, and he is on pace to finish outside the top-30 in points for the second straight season.
• However, he has some major selling points, including funding and a solid record in the lower series. Could that be enough to get him to land on his feet somewhere in the NASCAR ecosystem?
• Fans were not surprised that Burton was booted, but they don’t necessarily want Burton out of the sport entirely. Many believe Burton has enough talent to race somewhere, but where is the question?

An Honest Look at Burton’s Situation

Regarding performance, Burton will be a tough sell to Cup Series teams. Here are his overall stats from his two and a half seasons with The Wood Brothers.

Starts	Wins	Top-5s	Top-10s	Avg. Finish	Avg. Points Finish	Laps Led
91	0	1	5	24.3	30.3	67

It’s not a great look, but Burton has funding that could help him find his next ride. Dex Imaging has supported him since he was a teenager, which should help Burton land somewhere. The question is, where?

In the Cup Series, there are two places Burton could take his funding to. One is Kaulig Racing, which has no drivers set for 2025 and made many of its moves in the 2024 Silly Season primarily due to sponsorship funding. Another is Rick Ware Racing, another Ford team that runs No. 51 as an “All-Star Car”.

If not, Burton could move to the Xfinity Series, where he won four races in 2020 and recorded back-to-back eighth-place points finishes with Joe Gibbs Racing. Maybe he could return to JGR in one of the All-Star Cars. Haas Factory Team could also be a good landing spot for Burton, especially in the Xfinity Series. That could be solid equipment for him that can win races.

Plenty of smaller Xfinity Series programs have a lot of driver turnover. Think of teams like Alpha Prime, RSS Racing, AM Racing, etc. Any of those teams could be a good fit for Burton, and they could easily sell a driver with Cup Series experience.

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