It’s not apples to apples but Harrison Burton only has to look as far as Victory Lane at Bristol on Friday to see a version of what he is hoping to accomplish next season and beyond.
Cole Custer was essentially demoted back to the Xfinity Series two years ago and has done nothing but win races, win the championship last year and claimed the regular season championship in advance of another playoff run in 2025.
Burton was effectively fired from Wood Brothers Racing after a three-year Cup Series stint, and that was before he won Daytona to qualify for the Cup Series playoffs, but he will soon depart for AM Racing in the second-tier division
Custer, who will return to Cup next season, definitely sees some parallels about their respective journeys.
“Harrison shows a lot of potential,” Custer said. “He’s a guy who works really hard and obviously has shown that he can win in the Xfinity Series, so at the end of the day a good thing for him is that he’s going to be a leader over there for that team and he can really steer the ship, and I think he’ll be great as an alliance partner.”
That’s a reference to the fact that AM Racing uses cars supplied by Haas Factory team, the organization he drives for.
“I think, at the end of the day, they have a lot of potential with that team,” Custer added. “I think you’ve seen the last few races they’ve been able to show speed, it’s just a matter of getting the finishes, but I feel like he’ll be able to come back down and he can bring value to an organization – really be able to lead an organization and get them better throughout a year.”
And that’s what Burton is most looking forward to — the opportunity to not only build his confidence up with success but developing leadership qualities along the way.
“I definitely want to go down there and win races,” Burton said. “I haven’t talked to Cole about his experiences but I do know Cole well. I like Cole. I’ve been so focused on our Cup schedule that we haven’t talked.
“But obviously, the goal is for me to get back to Cup, win races in Cup, and was really fortunate to have won one this year. I’m going to go back down to Xfinity and try to earn my way back and we’ll see how it goes.”
He doesn’t view this as a demotion either.
“It’s a privilege to drive a race car in NASCAR and the top three series,” Burton said. “Obviously, it’s not what I wanted to happen. I didn’t want to have to go lose my job right? But what I have done is learn a lot from my experience and will try to become a better race car driver than when I was in Xfinity and AM Racing has confidence that I can help them turn their program around and get it where it needs to be as well.
“They have showed their vision and want to do that. They’re willing to put the work into that and I am too.”
But for now, Burton remains focused on finishing strong in Cup, especially this weekend at Bristol where he remains championship eligible, even if it’s an uphill climb.