The pressure was on for Harrison Burton heading into Daytona, with his playoff hopes dangling by a thread. Sitting a precarious 12th in the standings, just 30 points above the cutoff, Burton knew every lap, every pit stop, every dicey move could mean the difference between chasing a championship and packing it up for the season.

With a host of Xfinity regulars nipping at his heels, the challenge wasn’t just outrunning the field. But it was about fending off rivals who could steal his spot with one timely win or a surge in stage points. But as Stage 1 wound down, Burton’s night took an unexpected turn. And it was not from a rival’s bold move, but from something that rattled him in a way no points chart ever could.

Harrison Burton’s Daytona drama

The tension in Daytona ramped up quickly for Harrison Burton, who was fighting desperately to stay above the Xfinity playoff line. In a chaotic turn two-thirds into the opening stage, Burton spun out hard on the backstretch. As a result, his car sustained damage severe enough to break the protective crush panels inside the machine.

In the moments that followed, dust and debris shot through the cockpit, hitting Burton’s neck and, more worryingly, his eyes. “Yeah, I’m good. Honestly, just probably scared me more than anything. I just felt a bunch of fiberglass hitting my neck; it hurts,” Burton explained in a post-race interview to Noah Lewis.

Moreover, Burton had a realisation, “I made it out of Daytona without someone doing what I did to other people last year. I felt like that was Karma coming.” In 2024, Burton’s bold last-lap pass in overtime denied Kyle Busch a playoff spot as he claimed his first Cup Series win and the Wood Brothers’ 100th victory. Now, escaping a scary incident this year, Burton felt fortunate that fate didn’t turn the tables. He is still in playoff contention as he was able to continue and complete the race.

Unusually, NASCAR did not throw the caution flag after the spin. This left Burton to wrestle both the pain and the tricky aftermath of his compromised car while the race continued. On the CW Sports broadcast, fans saw Burton pouring water into his eyes and reporting the incident live. “Thankful our guys helped me out, getting me stuff to kind of get it rinsed out of my eye. Like eyes are fine, which is good; that stuff can linger,” he explained.

Burton even found humor in the ordeal. He said he probably “looked like a crybaby on the in-car camera,” while fighting to clear his vision and shake off discomfort. At the end of it all, in one of the season’s most dramatic playoff battles, Burton showed (amid adversity) that sometimes just surviving Daytona is victory enough.

Burton strengthens playoff push amid Daytona chaos

Despite a dramatic early spin at Daytona, Harrison Burton mounted a quiet rally to a 15th-place finish. This is enough to keep him solidly inside the playoff bubble with two races remaining. Burton now sits 37 points above the cutoff line, and just two top-15 finishes in the final stretch could clinch a first-ever Xfinity Series playoff berth for AM Racing.

While Burton clawed his way forward, the Daytona spotlight also caught a surprise performance in the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet. With Connor Zilisch sidelined after a collarbone injury, relief driver Parker Kligerman stepped in and delivered a masterclass. He led the pack to victory after taking over mid-race for Zilisch. Though the win officially goes on Zilisch’s record, it was Kligerman who drove the majority of the laps and celebrated the checkered flag.

The race was punctuated by additional drama. Stage 1 saw a massive crash just before the end, triggered when Carson Kvapil pinched Jeb Burton, leading to a multi-car pileup. Rain then prompted a lengthy red flag and driver swaps, while Stage 2 featured tight pack racing and a late spin by Sammy Smith.

Justin Allgaier and Sammy Smith split the stage win. For Burton and AM Racing, their gritty run through the Daytona minefield keeps their playoff dream alive. Now, they are just two good finishes away from making team and personal history. Hopefully, they can turn steady survival into a storybook breakthrough, punching their ticket to the playoffs for the very first time.