It was a lap to remember for Harrison Burton. The Wood Brothers Racing driver, in an immense show of skills, won the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway. It couldn’t have happened more dramatically, as Burton passed two-time Cup Series champion Kyle Busch in the final lap in overtime, securing his team’s 100th victory since its inception. It took 98 starts for the 23-year-old to get his first victory at NASCAR’s highest level, but none of that would have been possible if Kyle Busch hadn’t raced fairly.

The Richard Childress Racing driver scrambled to retake the lead in the final lap and even got to Burton’s bumper, forcing the driver below the double-yellow line. However, what ‘Rowdy’ didn’t do was resort to dirty tactics and raced fairly right until the checkered flag, despite the fact that a chance to seal a spot in the playoffs was hanging in the balance.

So close, yet so far, for Kyle Busch

“Besides just flat-out wrecking him, there was nothing else I could do.” That’s what Kyle Busch said in the post-race interview, having missed out on an elusive victory in the Cup Series by just 0.047s. Having endured a frustrating season, ‘Rowdy’ thought that lady luck was finally on his side when he was in the lead when the white flag flew at Daytona. But, well, that final lap was basically a summation of his 2024 season.

When a gap emerged between Busch’s No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro and pusher Christopher Bell’s No. 20 Toyota Camry, Harrison Burton and Parker Retzlaff were there to capitalize on the opportunity on the outside lane. Retzlaff pushed Burton ahead of Busch, giving the Wood Brothers Racing driver some momentum, thereby propelling him towards victory.

Speaking after the race, former NASCAR driver and Harrison Burton’s father, Jeff Burton, acknowledged Kyle Busch for racing fairly in the final lap. He said, “When they came off Turn 2, I said to myself, one of two things will happen. Either Kyle will make a massive block, and it’s going to be a hell of a wreck, or the No. 21 is going to win the race.” Remember how Busch’s teammate Austin Dillon wrecked Denny Hamlin in Richmond right before the finish line? Well, this could’ve turned out the same way had the No. 8 wrecked Burton for the win. But he didn’t.

Jeff Burton added, “You can see the momentum [Busch had]. Kyle did the right thing. He gave himself the chance off of Turn 4 by not making that block. They’re banging into each other off of Turn 4, and I saw it was below the white line. I knew he was in front and pushed down there, but I wasn’t worried about that call. Yeah, that was it.” Had Busch wrecked Burton for the win, there’s a high chance he wouldn’t have retained his playoff spot courtesy of the purposeful wreck, much like what happened with Dillon.

Burton’s victory was unpredictable, even though Daytona International Speedway has been on the track where underdogs have emerged victorious in the past. In over three years in the Cup Series, Harrison Burton has only secured one top-5 finish, along with five top-10 results, so it’s easy to understand why the driver was written off as a potential winner in the penultimate race of the regular season. However, he proved his doubters wrong and spent his victory lap in tears, relieved to finally have something to show for the many hard-fought battles he has overcome this season.

All Harrison Burton could do when he received a call from his father, Jeff, was simply say, “Holy sh**, we did it,” a telling indication of just how special this victory had been. The result meant Harrison Burton became the third member of his family to win at Daytona International Speedway, following in the footsteps of his father (2000) and his uncle Ward Burton (2003) to triumph on the 2.950-mile oval.

As for Kyle Busch, the 39-year-old raced with integrity, even though a runner-up finish wasn’t enough to secure a playoff spot. From being involved in multi-car wrecks, running out of fuel, facing technical issues, and a lack of pace, ‘Rowdy’ has been through it all this season, but when the time came to seize an advantage unfairly, the driver stuck to his values. A champion, indeed! And Burton’s mother appreciated the RCR driver, too.

“I appreciate Kyle saying his only chance was turning someone’s right rear at Daytona would be a bad deal and that he had the morals not to do that even with playoffs is huge for Kyle’s race morals,” Kimberle Burton tweeted. This result could potentially force him to miss out on the playoffs for the first time since 2005 but win 1 race left…

Busch expressed optimism despite his Daytona heartbreak

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He may have lost out on a victory at the Coke Zero Sugar 400, but Kyle Busch can make amends in the last race of the regular season at Darlington Raceway. A lot is riding on the Cook Out Southern 500 for Rowdy, who could potentially end an entire season without a win for the first time in his career.

2024 has easily been one of the toughest seasons of his career, having come agonizingly close to a victory at Atlanta Motor Speedway as well, only to miss out by 0.007 seconds. Speaking after the race, Kyle Busch said, “Just finished second. It’s all good. We were really, really, really lucky tonight to miss a few of the crashes. Just real proud of everybody, Randall (Burnett, his crew chief), all the guys at RCR, ECR did a great job, brought a fast car… We’ll take this.”

He continued, “Got a good little stretch going with these last three weeks, and hope we can do what we need to do next week.” Since coming back from the Olympic break, the No. 8 driver has finished in 12th (Richmond), 4th (Michigan), and 2nd (Daytona). Highlighting his expectations for Darlington, the Busch said, “We ran good there the first time I ran with these guys early last year. But early this year, we struggled mightily. We’ll just have to go with hopefully a really good package that works, get our job done.”

After Harrison Burton’s victory, 13 drivers have secured their place in the Round of 16, starting at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. Kyle Busch is currently 18th in the playoff standings, 106 points behind the cutline, which means nothing but a race win will salvage his season. However, his results at Darlington aren’t very impressive, having secured his only top-5 result in 2021 while driving the No. 18 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. But with momentum on his side, he might pull off a miracle at just the right time.

What are your thoughts about Kyle Busch’s chances at the Cook Out Southern 500? Let us know in the comments!