Harrison Burton and the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane team are headed to the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway needing a stellar run to advance to the Round of 12 in the Cup Series Playoffs.
Burton is 16th in the standings, 20 points below the cutoff for advancement to the next round. After Saturday night’s 500-lapper on the high-banked half-mile, the bottom four drivers in the Playoff standings will be eliminated from championship contention.
Even though the Motorcraft/Quick Lane team faces an uphill battle, crew chief Jeremy Bullins says he believes the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Mustang Dark Horse will be among the faster cars come Saturday night.
“Obviously we’d rather be 20 points to the good than 20 points below the cutline heading to Bristol, but I know this will be a good weekend for us,” Bullins said. “Harrison loves Bristol and so do I.
“We are confident we can go have a good run with our Motorcraft Mustang and hopefully earn enough points or a win and move on in the Playoffs.”
Practice for the Bass Pro Shops Night Race is set for Friday at 4 p.m. Eastern Time and will be followed by qualifying at 5:05 p.m.
Saturday’s 500-lap, 266.5-mile race is scheduled to get the green flag just after 7:30 p.m. with TV coverage on USA Network.
Stage breaks are planned for Laps 125 and 250.