DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. –– Prior to Saturday (Aug. 24), Wood Brothers Racing had 99 NASCAR Cup Series wins as a team, 14 of which came at the famed Daytona International Speedway.
While it does have five Daytona 500s, its bread-and-butter at Daytona is the summer race, in which it has won for a 10th time, thanks to one Harrison Burton.
In what could be the upset of the decade, Burton was able to deliver the team its 100th victory at the 2.5-mile superspeedway on Saturday night. It’s the 15th time the storied Wood Brothers have been to victory lane at The World Center of Racing. It’s also just the second time in history that the team finds itself competing in the playoffs.
Burton was able to charge past Kyle Busch on the final lap of an overtime restart to take the win, launching him from dead last in full-time points to the aforementioned playoff spot. He only led one lap en route to the victory, but it could be the most important lap of the 23-year-old’s life.
“I’ve struggled to put it into words,” Burton said. “The way the last three years have gone have not been the way I wanted to represent myself, the way I wanted to represent this team.”
For the Wood Brothers, the idea of win No. 100 has been easier said than done. Win No. 99 came at Pocono Raceway at the hands of Ryan Blaney way back on June 11, 2017. With the up-and-coming driver at the helm, win No. 100 didn’t seem that far away.
However, Blaney was brought fully into the Team Penske fold in 2018, and the team turned to Paul Menard to get that win. Menard couldn’t get there before he retired, and neither could Matt DiBenedetto, who replaced him.
In 2022, the team brought Burton up from the Xfinity Series to go along with the introduction of the Next Gen car. The duo started off on the wrong note by flipping in the Daytona 500. From there, the issues snowballed over the next three years, and it became apparent that the partnership was not going to culminate in victory.
On July 3, it was announced that Josh Berry would drive the No. 21 in 2025, leaving Burton without a ride for next year. The goal for the rest of the season became trying to get that 100th win. With the way the team has lacked speed, it was clear the only way Burton would get that was through a superspeedway race.
Saturday’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 became a race of attrition towards the end once a bunch of leaders crashed out with under 10 laps to go. After Berry flipped and brought out a red flag, Burton found himself restarting on the front row with Busch as the leader.
Though Burton was unable to hang with Busch for the outright lead, he was able to maintain his lead in the outside lane, and was in prime position to surge to the lead on the final lap.
With a monstrous shove from Parker Retzlaff, Burton soared past Busch’s No. 8 into turn 3 and was able to successfully block his advances to take the historic win. Busch had Burton jacked up coming to the checkered and had the opportunity to wreck him and take the win for himself, but didn’t.
“There’s a right way and a wrong way,” Busch said. “I certainly could have made it work for me doing it the wrong way, but … we got what we got.”
“He could’ve very easily wrecked me,” Burton added. “I wasn’t in his shoes, but I was pretty sideways.”
Burton’s father Jeff, who was calling the race for NBC when his son crossed the line, was perhaps happier than the team getting its 100th win.
In victory lane, Blaney, who had crashed out a few laps prior, stopped by to congratulate Burton and his former team.
Burton becomes the 19th driver to win in the Wood Brothers’ 74-year history and eighth to get his first career win with the team. In doing so, Burton joins an illustrious list of drivers who have won for the team. That list includes drivers such as Marvin Panch, Cale Yarborough and most notably, David Pearson.
The win also extends the Wood Brothers’ streak of decades with a win, as it has won in every decade of NASCAR competition outside of the 1940s. It’s been seven long years since No. 99. But finally, win No. 100 has been achieved.
“When the walls are closing in, we won the 100th Wood Brothers win in the most Wood Brothers way possible,” Burton said. “We’ve been down and out, and we came back swinging, and we’re gonna continue to do that.”
While Burton continues to seek opportunities for his 2025 season, the win certainly helps his stock.
As for the Wood Brothers? With new life and a new driver coming in next season, maybe 200 will come quicker than 100.
Either way, you can’t argue the fact that it was a historic night all around.
Anthony Damcott joined Frontstretch in March 2022. Currently, he is an editor and co-authors Fire on Fridays (Fridays); he is also the primary Truck Series reporter/writer and serves as an at-track reporter, among many other duties he takes on for the site. A proud West Virginia Wesleyan College alum from Akron, Ohio, Anthony is now a grad student. He is a theatre actor and fight-choreographer-in-training in his free time.
You can keep up with Anthony by following @AnthonyDamcott on X.