Harrison Burton and the No. 21 Freightliner team came back from a flat tire with 11 laps remaining to finish 24th in Sunday’s Go Bowling at the Glen at Watkins Glen International.
Burton now heads to Bristol Motor Speedway 16th in the standings, 20 points behind the cutoff for advancement to the Round of 12 of the Cup Series Playoffs. Saturday night’s race at Bristol is the final event in the Round of 16, the opening segment of the 10-race, season-ending battle for the series championship. After that 500-lap race, the bottom four drivers in the Playoff standings will be eliminated from championship contention.
Burton and his No. 21 Freightliner Mustang Dark Horse started Sunday’s race at Watkins Glen from 33rd place and made his first pit stop from 27th place with three laps remaining in the first 20-lap Stage.
He ended that segment in 30thplace, but as those ahead of him made their pit stops he moved up to 15th place for the restart of the second Stage.
As the second Stage neared its conclusion and others pitted, Burton stayed on the track and finished the Stage in sixth place, earning five Stage points.
In the third and final segment of the race he ran as high as ninth during cycles of pit stops and made what was expected to be his final pit stop at Lap 70.
With 11 laps remaining he had a flat left-rear tire and dropped to 32nd place, one lap down. The caution flag was displayed for debris from his tire.
Then, Burton was in the free-pass position when a wreck on the ensuing restart allowed him to rejoin the lead lap.
He avoided yet another wreck and moved to 23rd place, but lost one spot on a final restart as the race ended with an Overtime run to the checkered flag.