Yahoo Sports Harrison Burton joins AM Racing for 2025 Xfinity campaign
BRISTOL, Tenn. — AM Racing announced Friday that Harrison Burton will join the organization next season, driving its flagship Ford in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
Burton will return to the Xfinity circuit after three seasons in the NASCAR Cup Series with Wood Brothers Racing. That stint yielded his first premier series victory last month at Daytona International Speedway and the 23-year-old driver‘s first playoff berth.
Burton said AM Racing contacted him shortly after he landed on the free-agent market this summer.
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“As soon as really my announcement came out that I wouldn’t return to the Wood Brothers, they expressed interest, and then have kind of shown me the will and want to improve and get better and do things the right way,” Burton said Friday afternoon at Bristol Motor Speedway. “And as time went along, I felt like that was the best opportunity for me to help them build their program, and in doing that, help rebuild myself and my confidence and try and win races in the Xfinity Series.”
AM Racing entered its second season of Xfinity Series competition with Hailie Deegan behind the wheel of the No. 15 entry on a multiyear deal, but the driver and team parted ways in early July. Since then, the organization has rotated a host of fill-in drivers through the seat — including Cup Series regulars Joey Logano and Josh Berry.
The team indicated that it has renewed two partnerships for 2025 — its technical alliance with the rebranded Haas Factory Team and its engine supplier agreement with Roush Yates Engines.
Burton accumulated four wins during his previous Xfinity Series tenure (2019-2021), reaching the postseason in both of his full-time seasons with Joe Gibbs Racing. His arrival with the famed Wood Brothers No. 21 team brought him to the Cup Series in 2022, shifting his manufacturer alliances from Toyota to Ford.
Burton finished 27th and 31st in the standings in his first two Cup Series seasons, and the Wood Brothers announced in July that Berry would replace him in 2025. Burton gave the organization a proper send-off at Daytona with its 100th premier-series victory, clinching his first appearance in the Cup Series Playoffs.
After his breakthrough win, Burton described his status for next season as “fluid,” not knowing which series he might call home in 2025. He said he aspires to return to the Cup Series but demurred at the notion that the move back to the Xfinity circuit was a demotion.
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“I mean, it’s a privilege to drive a race car in NASCAR, in any of the top three series,” Burton said. “So obviously, it’s not what I wanted to happen. I didn’t want to lose my job, right? But what I did do is learned a lot from this experience. I feel like I’m a better race car driver than when I was in Xfinity. and AM Racing has confidence in me that I can help them turn their program around and get it where it needs to be as well. They have shared and have shown the want to do that, the want to get better, and are willing to put the work in to do that, and I think with both of us with that same mindset, I don’t see why there’s any reason we can’t.”
Burton is currently 16th in the Cup Series Playoffs standings, 20 points below the provisional elimination line. He‘ll aim to keep his postseason eligibility intact in Saturday‘s Bass Pro Shops Night Race (7 ET, USA, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App), the Round of 16 finale at Bristol Motor Speedway.
