NASCAR: 5 Xfinity Series drivers poised for future Cup moves

6 of 6

Harrison Burton, Joe Gibbs Racing, NASCAR (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images) /

Xfinity Series drivers poised for Cup moves: Harrison Burton

Did anybody expect Harrison Burton to come out and reel off four straight top five finishes and 10 straight top 10 finishes, including his first career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory, to start his rookie season?

Driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, the 19-year-old Huntersville, North Carolina native sits in eighth place in the championship standings with an average finish of 9.4 after breaking Carl Edwards’s rookie record of nine consecutive top 10 finishes to start the year.

Just last year, he finished in 12th place in the championship standings driving for a top-tier Kyle Busch Motorsports Truck Series organization, and only 11 drivers competed in each of the 23 races on the schedule.

More from NASCAR Cup Series

At 19 years old, there is obviously no rush to get Burton to the Cup Series. But Joe Gibbs believing in him after his struggles last year, which even led to team owner Kyle Busch saying that his drivers “ain’t doing shit” in top-tier equipment, could be a home run as far as their long-term future is concerned.

It is not a secret that seats with Toyota are limited in the Cup Series. Joe Gibbs Racing are the only powerhouse Toyota team, and the only other remotely competitive Toyota team is the Joe Gibbs Racing-affiliated Leavine Family Racing.

Now they won’t exist after 2020, given the fact that they were hit hard financially as a result of the coronavirus pandemic earlier this year.

Of the five Joe Gibbs Racing and Leavine Family Racing drivers, only one doesn’t have a contract for 2021. That driver is Erik Jones, who entered the year on the hot seat with Christopher Bell lurking at Leavine Family Racing.

Jones has confirmed that he won’t be back with Joe Gibbs Racing in 2020, and Bell is set to replace him, so Burton likely won’t be in the Cup Series at all next year since Joe Gibbs Racing’s four-car lineup is set for 2021.

With that being said, Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. are both slated to be quadregenarians in 2021. For how much longer will they be competing?

Burton is clearly the top Toyota driver outside of the Cup Series at this point, which is something that not many people thought would be the case anytime soon after his disappointing 2019 Truck Series season.

Plus, Joe Gibbs Racing could form another technical alliance at some point in the near future which allows Burton to be promoted, and the ages of Hamlin and Truex are certainly worth watching, especially after the team gave a 45-year-old Matt Kenseth the boot after 2017 despite the fact that he had won 20 races in the previous six seasons.

That could all lead to a future full-time ride for Burton with Coach Gibbs. Just not quite yet.

Next. Top 10 NASCAR drivers of all-time. dark

Which drivers who currently compete full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series are poised to make moves to the Cup Series at some point in the near future? Aside from Ross Chastain, which driver discussed in this article be the first, and who else will follow?

Home/NASCAR Cup Series