After Cup Series snub, Hailie Deegan’s NASCAR replacement sends a strong message about his ‘expectations’

Last year, Hailie Deegan joined AM Racing but parted ways with the team after 17 Xfinity Series events. She then shifted to open-wheel racing in the Indy NXT Series, while AM Racing added Harrison Burton to this year’s roster.

Son of former Cup Series driver Jeff Burton, Harrison Burton drives the No. 25 Ford Mustang Dark Horse under a full-time schedule with AM Racing. 2025 marks his first year in Xfinity following a three-year stint in the Cup Series.

During that period, Burton amassed a total of six top-10s and delivered only two top-five performances for Wood Brothers Racing. He was released from the team ahead of the 2025 season and Josh Berry was tabbed as the new driver for the No. 21 WBR entry.

Nevertheless, the 24-year-old is ahead of his sixth race of the season, scheduled for March 22 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The Huntersville native is vying for his first win of the season and what could be AM Racing’s first career victory. On that note, he said (via Speedway Digest),

"I'm a big fan of racing at Homestead-Miami Speedway. It is a track that I won at and I would love nothing more than return to Victory Lane there on Saturday afternoon and give AM Racing their first career win. Having a good balance is key to success at Homestead. It's such a wide track, but there's a lot of speed running up by the wall, so we'll try to get our No. 25 DEX Imaging Ford Mustang as close to the wall as possible without hitting it.”

"I expect the track conditions to change a lot from the green flag to the checkered, so staying ahead of those adjustments will be important if we want to be in the mix for another top-10 on Saturday,” he added.

The NASCAR driver, Burton will enter the race with 80 Xfinity starts to his credit, which includes four wins, 26 top-fives, and 52 top-10s. He also owns 109 starts in the NASCAR Cup Series, 40 in the Craftsman Truck Series, and 52 across the ARCA Menards Racing platforms.

---

Harrison Burton ready to take his learnings from NASCAR's Las Vegas to Homestead-Miami

Last weekend, i.e., on March 15, Harrison Burton took part in “The LiUNA!” held at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He bagged a P8 finish, picking up 29 points on the way. As of today, he sits 13th in the driver standings with 119 points to his name.

After delivering his third top-10 of the year, Burton is now ready for a Homestead-Miami sweep. He has made three starts at the 1.5- mile, oval-shaped intermediate so far, with his best finish of P20 coming in 2022.

Burton took to X (formerly known as Twitter) and wrote,

“P8 for the @deadontools #Mustang @LVMotorSpeedway Got the car super fast to end the race! Ready to take what we’ve learned to @HomesteadMiami @AMRacingNASCAR.”

Practice and qualifying sessions are scheduled for 10:30 am ET and 11:35 am ET, respectively. Named Hard Rock Bet 300, the 300-mile, 200-lap event will be televised on CW from 4 pm ET onwards. Radio updates will be available on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.