Historic NASCAR team risking a fade into obsolescence with poor tenure from young driver

NASCAR Cup Series driver Harrison Burton.

On Feb. 15, 1976, David Pearson won the 18th annual Daytona 500 in a crazy finish that is still talked about to this day. He did so driving the No. 21 car for the Wood Brothers.

On Feb. 20, 2011, Trevor Bayne pulled off the biggest upset in NASCAR history by winning the Daytona 500 in just his second Cup Series start for the Wood Brothers.

In 2020, Matt DiBenedetto took the Wood Brothers and the No. 21 car to the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.

Competing in the NASCAR Cup Series since 1953, the Wood Brothers have compiled 99 Cup Series victories with legends such as Pearson, Cale Yarborough, Fireball Roberts and Tiny Lund.

While the team had some rough patches in the 2000s and 2010s, they found stability as the 2020s approached. Even with DiBenedetto departing after 2021, things were looking up for the historic organization. A young Xfinity Series star in Harrison Burton was being called up to the No. 21 car in 2022, and the team’s alliance with Penske was stronger than ever.

However, a flip for the young Burton in the 2022 Daytona put the writing on the wall: It was going to be a long few seasons for the Wood Brothers.

Burton, the son of 21-time Cup Series winner Jeff Burton, was a championship contender in the Xfinity Series in 2020, winning four races and making the Round of 8, but followed it up with a winless 2021. Nobody thought much of it, though, as Burton was set for a full-time Cup Series ride in the No. 21 in 2022. With NASCAR introducing its Next-Gen car that season, it would be a fresh start for all parties involved.

It seems Burton’s flip in the 2022 Daytona 500 was a cautionary tale of things to come.

In 81 NASCAR Cup Series starts driving the famed No. 21 car for the Wood Brothers, Burton has compiled a total of four top 10s and just two top fives. He’s led only 67 laps over those 82 starts, with a career-best finish of third at the Indianapolis Road Course in the summer of 2022.

In 2022, he finished 27th in points. Not great, but not awful for a rookie. Many thought Burton would be a fringe playoff contender in 2023 with a year of Cup Series experience under his belt.

Instead, he reverted the Wood Brothers back to the late 2000s, where the team was an afterthought and only got TV time when backed into the wall. Burton finished 31st in points in 2023, with an average finish that’s nearly two spots lower than the previous year.

In 2024, with the lowest expectations of his career, Burton has somehow managed to subvert them. The 23-year-old driver currently sits 34th in points after the first nine races of the season, just seven points above rookie Zane Smith. Burton is second-to-last in points among full-time Cup Series drivers, averaging just 9.4 points per event.

For reference, 60 points is the highest you can score in a given race, with 20 points being available at the end of stages. Nine points per week means you’re consistently finishing outside the top 25, and with an average finish of 29.3 so far in 2024, Burton is clearly doing so.

If Burton’s seat in the No. 21 car isn’t already blazing hot, it should be. The Wood Brothers have nearly faded into obsolescence before. They can’t risk doing so again.

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