NASCAR takeaways: Harrison Burton pulls off epic upset at Daytona to make playoffs

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Harrison Burton, who potentially had just 12 races left in his NASCAR Cup Series career, pulled off an epic upset Saturday night as he captured the victory at Daytona International Speedway to vault from 34th in the standings into the 2024 playoffs.

Having known for months that he would not return to the Wood Brothers Racing No. 21 car following this year, Burton avoided the major wrecks that took out several contenders, got a push from Parker Retzlaff at the right time and then threw a block on Kyle Busch on the final lap for the victory.

Burton doesn't know where he will race next year but knows that he will have a Cup win on his resume and earned the 100th victory for Wood Brothers Racing, which has been racing in NASCAR going back to 1950.

"I cried for the whole cool-down lap," Burton said. "It's just been the hardest three years of my life.  There's no denying.  It's just been rough and these guys have rallied behind me when it matters the most."

The win threw the NASCAR Cup Series playoff field into chaos as the two-time Cup champion Busch remains among those in a must-win situation going into the regular-season finale next Sunday at Darington Raceway.

Busch finished second with Christopher Bell third, Cody Ware fourth and Ty Gibbs fifth.

Burton Huge Upset

Burton had only one top-5 and five top-10s in the first 97 Cup races of his career. So it wasn't like he had a lot of experience racing for the win in Cup before going into the overtime restart on the front row.

"I've been really fortunate and won a lot of races when I was younger," Burton said. "You just have to rely on the film you've watched, rely on the situations you've been in."

The 23-year-old son of former Cup driver and current