The playoffs are closer than ever, and Bubba Wallace is still fumbling. The next-to-last regular season race saw his hopes soar for a little bit. Starting from 18th place, Wallace led for 16 laps at Daytona last weekend. However, a whirlwind of unexpected events relegated him to 6th place, depriving him of a much-needed win. Even then, Wallace did not shy away from congratulating the winner – Harrison Burton.

The reason lies in the 74-year-old winning history of the Wood Brothers Racing team. Simply driving under this prestigious NASCAR heritage team carries a load of honor. So Wallace could not help but set aside his career misfortune to praise Burton’s efforts.

Harrison Burton’s ‘shield’ affords him merit

The Wood Brothers are deeply embedded in NASCAR’s legacy. Starting from a fiery accident that ruined their first race in 1950 to being a super-achieving team until the 21st century, their team has gone through a lot. Glen Wood, the team patriarch, clinched the first-ever victory for his team in 1960 at Bowman Gray Stadium, and the first Daytona 500 win came courtesy of Tiny Lund three years later. Now, over seven decades later, Harrison Burton has topped off with a 100th win at NASCAR’s Superbowl.

So Bubba Wallace and other rivals could not help but salute that heritage. Harrison Burton significantly axed Wallace’s playoff chances – the 23XI Racing driver currently sits 21 points below the cutline. He got chided by team owner Denny Hamlin for inconsistent finishes. Even in this storm, the No. 45 Toyota driver patted Burton on the back.

Wallace’s spotter, Freddie Kraft, felt bittersweet about Burton’s win and the latter claimed Wallace felt the same. “Bubba came to Victory Lane and kind of said the same thing…As much as he hated that I won and kind of put you guys in a tough situation going into this weekend, he was happy for me.” 

Wallace has had his fair share of dust-ups with drivers including Kyle Larson, Aric Almirola, and others. However, Harrison Burton proudly declared that he has mostly steered clear of any conflict. “And me and him have had a good relationship throughout kind of my Cup career. He’s been really nice and kind to me. We’ve also yelled at each other sometimes but that’s how racing goes, right? Ross did the same thing.” 

And that may be because of the Wood Brothers’ legacy. “So I think I just have the shield of Wood Brothers’ protection…and that’s great, I’ll use that as much as I can.” Yet even the Wood Brothers begged to differ, as they heaped praises on Harrison Burton for upholding their family name.

Burton himself deserves respect

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Being the son of a NASCAR Hall of Famer and driving for a hallowed race team are no mean responsibilities to bear. Harrison Burton has weathered storms of doubt about his talents since 2020 when he clinched four Xfinity wins. Since then, it was a downward spiral as he failed to achieve success in the Cup Series with only one top-five and five top-finishes. However, with tremendous patience and guidance under stalwarts like crew chief Jeremy Bullins, Burton finally reached Victory Lane last Saturday.

Thus, Bubba Wallace, Ross Chastain, and Joey Logano were not the only ones who tipped their hats to Burton. Even team owner Jon Wood claimed that the young driver has prowess. “I mean, you can’t help but pull for him. Like, that’s the thing about Harrison that I think a lot of our fan base just doesn’t see when you’re running bad. You don’t get a lot of coverage, you don’t get the chance to have that exposure and opportunity to show people who you are, and this is a great time to do that. And you see the real Harrison sitting here, and we’re so stoked to be with him. Again, you just can’t help but want the best for him. It’s just, he’s not like most of them.”

Evidently, Harrison Burton is being too humble about his well-earned achievement. Now we can only wait and see what path he carves for himself for the future.