Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour presented by NASCAR on FOX - Harrison Burton Interview | VICTORY LAP

Episode Date: August 26, 2024

Join Kevin Harvick for a special episode of Victory Lap as he chats with Harrison Burton! Harrison dives into the details of his epic win at the Daytona 500, held at Daytona International Speedway. Tune in for an inside look at one of the most exciting moments of the racing season! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to Kevin Harvick's happy hour, presented by NASCAR on Fox. And on today's victory lap, we have this weekend's winner, Harrison Burton, who has put his name in the history books, you know, in what I would refer to as a legacy family in the NASCAR world. He is now a Cup Series winner. But most importantly, he's also the 100th. He got the 100th win for the Woodbrothers who has been looking for that win for a long time. So let's listen to the conversation with Harrison. I hope you enjoy it. Well, Harrison, you can now call yourself a Cup Series winner, and that has to be, that has to feel pretty darn good.

What's it like? Yeah, it's really hard to put into words. I mean, as you know, it's just so hard. Everything has to go right in this series and in this sport to get to Victory Lane and the circumstances that we were under as a team with, you know, it being announced that I was not going to be the driver there next year. it would have been really easy for all of our guys to quit and give up and kind of punt toward next year. It would have been really easy for us to kind of start pointing fingers and saying it was your fault or it was your fault. And I think it's a testament to our guys and the Wood Brothers as a whole, you know, to keep pulling the rope in the same direction, keep fighting, show up to the weekend with, you know, kind of just the opportunity that we have every weekend.

That's to drive the number 21 Ford Mustang for Wood Brothers. That's something that I don't take lightly, something in our group doesn't take lightly. And you just never know. You just never know. As long as you don't quit, you still have a chance. So that was kind of our mantra for the end of this year. And really proud to get the 100th win for them and do it. And probably what I consider is like the most Wood Brothers fashion ever, right?

To be kicked down, beat down, everyone counts you out and then come back fighting and find a way to win a race. When it matters the most is pretty hard to beat and nothing more Wood Brothers is. that for sure. So you've been through a lot. You've won everything you've ever done in your, in your racing career, and you've gone through these last few years. And, you know, you've had to figure out cup racing and had the ups and downs and the pressure and the challenges.

You lose your ride. You have everything that you have going on. You have a family that I think is very unique to, it has a huge history in racing in general. Tell everybody about the backbone of. of your family with your dad and your mom and the support and everything that they give you through this and leaning on your dad and mom's experience through everything that they've been through to help you get through this last few years. Yeah, I mean, what's really been awesome is just the unwavering support from them, right?

And, you know, they've seen me in my darkest days. They've seen me in the good days. And they know, you know, sometimes more than I'm, than I know myself that I'm capable of doing it. My dad has never been the type of dad to sugarcoat anything. He tells you how it is. He tells you when you're at fault. He tells you when you need to do something better. He tells you all that stuff. But with that being said, he still always told me that he believed in me and that he knew I could do it and that he'd seen me do it. It was just about doing it in the right times and having the confidence to do it consistently and weekend and week out and all those

things. And they allot that group, right? my mom, dad, sister, fiance, and my kind of core people that are around me, never gave up on me, never quit on me, and probably believed in me more than I did myself at times, right? And sometimes that's what you need when the chips are down and when it's hard to go to the shop every day. And, you know, in the situation that we were in before in Daytona is really, really hard to believe in yourself and have confidence and keep the team rallied around you. It just takes a really special support group to do that.

And I feel like I've had that around me and been able to do that because of them. So we saw Lane Riggs almost have a complete catastrophe last night after the truck race with his shoulder. Have you checked on your dad today to make sure is his shoulders still in socket? Because that was a pretty big swing. I'm so happy that Lee got out of the way because I felt like Lee might have been able to get knocked on the floor with that punch that he was throwing in there. He was jacked up. He was, man. it was awesome.

Like Lee did a great job, and then he about got punched in the face for doing such a great job. He had my dad so excited up there. Yeah, it's funny, man. He was full excitement mode, and he didn't get injured, but I was close to getting injured because he got to me and punched me in the ribs so hard. I thought he broke my ribs. I was like, what is that? Why is that your move to punch me in the ribs? Like, what is that celebration?

But he was so excited, so amped up. And I remember, you know, I grabbed them, hugged him, and he punched me in the ribs and said, that's why you never quit, you know. And that's just my dad, man. It's just such my dad. Everything is a teaching moment. Everything is a learning moment. And for him to come down there and wanted to say thanks to NBC because they let him come down there.

They let him get out of the booth, get out of his day job and come celebrate with me, which was really, really cool, really fun for our family. It's funny when I win a race. He's always very quiet in the booth. He tries so hard to be non-biased. And I'm always like, you can give me a little love up there, man. You can give me some credits. So it's pretty cool and fun to share those moments. So aside from your parents, you know, I think that, you know, you obviously have the

100th win for the Wood Brothers, which I think is beyond amazing for you and the sport. And what an amazing family that they are and have meant so much to NASCAR racing. But I think one of the things that stuck out to me the most last night watching that race were all those drivers that came to Victory Lane to congratulate you. And that support that you have, I think, says a lot for your credibility with the drivers, your work ethic, especially with your teammates. What have your teammates been like through this whole process of trying to help? You guys seem like a pretty tight-knit group of guys.

Yeah, for sure. It's been awesome, you know, with our line. with Team Penske and the Wood Brothers, you know, they've been able to help me a lot through a lot of things. I lean on really all of them in different ways, right? I talk to Joey about a lot of things, talked to Ryan, a lot of things. And Austin and I kind of came in under similar circumstances, right, where we were both rookies in the same year, so we kind of shared that experience as being rookies. And you kind of can pull things from each other. And we all have a good time and just enjoy each other's company. So that makes it easier, right? As we all get along and are good friends. And I think we

take care of each other on the racetrack, right? Like there was a couple of times I was able to let Joey and I was able to let Ryan and the lions that were advantageous positions for them to save fuel. And I feel like that stuff just pays you back in the long run so much if you're able to help guys like that out and they're able to kind of reciprocate it when it matters as well. And, you know, on top of that, I did want to give a shout out to Ross Chastain and Bubba Wallace who both came to Victory Lane to celebrate with us.

even though what we did was so bad for their point situation. I mean, those guys were right on the bubble fighting for a playoff spot. Now they're 20-something points back where, you know, it took a lot for both of them to come and congratulate me and spoke a lot about, I think for me just I've always tried to do things the right way and try to treat people the right way. Even when I make a mistake, as you know, Kevin, I spun out and cost you one of your last wins and had to text you and apologize for that. and yeah, I just try to do things the right way. And that's how my dad and mom both raised me. And, you know, it's cool when it pays you back in the long run, right? Well, you're a stand-up person.

And, you know, I think that really showed at the end of that race. So what's next? You know, you go through this obviously can't hurt anything. I think anytime you win a Cup Series race, no matter what the situation is, what track that you're on, where you're at in the points, when and losing, it obviously adds value to your situation and the things that you do, looking for sponsors, looking for a ride. What do you see on the horizon?

Where do you want to be next year? What do you think you're going to do? Yeah, I don't know yet. You know, I think I'm still kind of working through just a silly season of, you know, seeing what's available. And the biggest thing for me is I want to go somewhere that I'm wanted, right? I want to go somewhere that believes in me sees me as an avenue to win races to elevate their team, somewhere where I feel like I can go and contribute and not, you know, just be there to be there.

I really don't have any interest in showing up somewhere and just being a driver just, you know, to be a driver. I want to be a driver that competes for wins, races for wins, you know, and being able to do that in the Cup series, obviously, like you said, shows a lot. I do know it was at Daytona. I'm not oblivious to the fact that that is a wildcard race. But at the end of the day, when you're presented those opportunities and you have a green white checkered against Kyle Bush and Christopher Bell and finding a way to come out on top

when it matters most and the chips are down, you know, I think is important. It's an important quality for a driver to have and for me to go through the three years of hardship that I've had, you know, and to get an opportunity to win and to capitalize on it was just so much fun and so cool and gave me a lot of confidence in myself, right, that those situations I'm capable of coming out on the other side on top of, right? When at times it seems like it hasn't been that way. And I hope I can bring that to wherever I go next. But now, I mean, and this has kind of been my mindset about this whole thing.

And as you know, with working through KHA, you know, I've worked with your management company there. And I have a great support system around me on the business side through them, through my dad, who's been there and done that to the point where, I'm able to focus weekend and week out. And now we're a playoff team, whether anyone likes it or not, whether that's just the way the system works. And so we have an opportunity that we have to take advantage of now. And so I'm just going into these next few weeks as do or die as we can be and trying to make a little Cinderella run in the playoffs too because, you know, it's not every day

you get a chance to race for, you know, the playoffs and the NASCAR Cup series. So we're going to take advantage of that and then see where the future holds after that. Well, we're really excited about everything that you accomplished. And did you make any bad decisions last night? Did you wind up with a tattoo or any of those dumb scenarios that happened after your first win? Any headaches or anything today? I definitely have a headache. I had a headache.

I've recovered now. But no tattoos. My sister's fiancee was like, who should get tattoos? I'm like, no. Because then the next win, you're still stuck with your first win tattoo. And I don't know. It's just not a good decision for me. But yeah, I definitely had a headache the next day.

Todd Gill and in Sheldon Creed, I only give a shout out to those guys. I got home at like 4 in the morning, and they were sitting in my house just waiting for me to show up and, you know, had a couple of drinks with those guys. So it was pretty fun. And, you know, it was tough because the race was so late. We got out of tech so late that we didn't get home until super late. So it kind of forced me to go to bed and not make too many bad decisions and then just enjoy it from there. Awesome job, man. Well, we appreciate you taking the time.

Have a great week and good luck for the rest of the year. Awesome. Thanks for having me on. So I was good talking to you.