Ward Burton, No. 27 State Water Heaters Chevrolet — started 25th and finished eighth.
Ward Burton Race Summary:
No. 27 State Waters Heaters Chevrolet driver Ward Burton finished eighth in Friday night’s wild NextEra Energy 250 at Daytona International Speedway. In front of a crowd of 57,000, Burton overcame a variety of challenges early in the race but put himself in position on the third and final green-white-checkered attempt to post a top-10 finish in his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut. Although he couldn’t battle for victory in the three, two-lap shootouts that extended the race to 109 laps, it was an impressive showing for Burton in the inaugural race for Hillman Racing. The highlight of the race came when Burton made a spectacular maneuver on the frontstretch on lap 104 dodging several spinning and one airborne truck to move from 22nd to 13th place. In the early going, Burton struggled to diagnose a vibration with the truck that caused multiple pit stops in the first half of the race and dropped him a lap behind the leaders on lap 41. He returned to the lead lap on lap 43 with a timely debris caution and was forced to use a strategy to stay at the back of the pack to avoid the multi-truck wrecks for the second half of the season-opening event. The strategy paid off as the race ended with three green-white-checkered attempts, and Burton advanced 14 positions in those final nine laps. Burton and his No. 27 State Water Heaters team will now concentrate on the series’ second event of the season at Martinsville Speedway on Saturday, March 31. This time it will be Ward’s 19-year-old son, Jeb, making his truck series debut at the .533-mile oval.
Race Notes:
- Burton started 25th and finished eighth in his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut. • Battled a vibration in the early going of the race that forced the team to use a strategy of running at the back of the draft to avoid the multi-truck incidents.
- Just as he lost a lap to the leaders, the second caution flew on lap 43 to return Burton to the lead lap.
- Topped off for fuel on lap 100 and advanced 14 positions from 22nd to eighth in the final nine laps. • Made spectacular move avoiding an accident on lap 104, jumping from 22nd to 13th.
- Burton is currently seventh in the driver point standings, 12 points out of the lead and just three points outside of the top five. (Kvapil finished fourth but is ineligible to run for the truck series championship)
- After recording its most-watched season ever in 2011, the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series on SPEED kicked off the 2012 season in strong fashion, increasing Household ratings by 9 percent (1.63 vs. 1.49) from a year ago according to Nielsen Media Research. The Friday night race had an average viewing audience of more than 1.8 million people, with the strongest growth among Men 18-49, which enjoyed a 41-percent increase from 2011.
Burton’s Quotes:
“Well, the State Water Heaters Chevy did a really good job tonight. The guys worked really hard. We had a little issue going on under the hood; we’re not really sure what it was. It actually may have been a blessing in disguise for us to miss all the wrecks. I’ve never really raced that way, staying in the back of the pack, but we did get up there and raced hard the last three laps on the third green-white-checkered. We got a top-10 finish out of it in the first race for Hillman Racing an as entity, and with Jeb and I being a part of the team with State Water Heaters. It worked out pretty good for us. Hopefully we’ll go to Martinsville and top that, and get a top-five or another top-10 finish.”
