In 2022, Wood Brothers Racing took a massive gamble and promoted young Harrison Burton. He had already competed in one race for the erstwhile Gaunt Brothers Racing in 2021, finishing 20th at Talladega. Since then, Wood Brothers recruited him because they saw something in the youngster.Unfortunately, 3 years later, he has not delivered on that promise. Burton had largely been underwhelming in his Cup career, with his only crowning glory being a solitary win in 2024. One would have thought that that win would save his NASCAR Cup career, but in reality, the writing was on the wall. In the end, the driver has been demoted back to the Xfinity Series for 2025, with AM Racing.Of course, the driver must have been bitterly disappointed to have moved down. This will naturally give him some motivation to try and earn his way back into the Cup Series. By his own confession, Burton pounced at the chance to race in the Cup Series because those chances don’t present themselves often. Who wouldn’t want an opportunity to jump straight into the Top levels of racing, if they believe that they are ready?The dream quickly turned into a nightmare for Harrison BurtonAs mentioned before, the zenith of his 3-year Cup Series tenure was scoring his first and WBR’s 100th Cup win. However, for every yin, there has to be a yang, and Burton’s low points were LOW. To be precise, the driver recorded an average finishing position lower than 24th. In spite of that, Harrison Burton does not regret a thing, as he knew that making the move up at the age of 21, was a gamble.He told NASCAR, “It was frustrating and not what I wanted it to be. I made great, lifelong friendships and got a lot of good out of it. Got to be a much better race car driver from it. It just didn’t go as well as it needed to soon enough. I’m really motivated. I know that I can do it; I know I can be a Cup driver. That’s still my goal. I’ve got to rework my way up there, get an opportunity and go take advantage of it.”“It’s hard because drivers are egomaniacs. You want to be the fastest guy, walk in with your chest poked out. When that doesn’t happen immediately, it’s easy to let doubts creep into your head. For me, as time progressed, I got better about that and got more confident. It took some time for me to get there and feel like I belonged. Winning helped with that feeling, and I think it will carry into this season with AM Racing.”FORT WORTH, TEXAS – JUNE 06: Harrison Burton driver of the #18 Safelite AutoGlass Totyota stands in the garage during practice for the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series SpeedyCash.com 400 at Texas Motor Speedway on June 06, 2019 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images)The good news for the driver is that his redemption arc is just beginning. With AM Racing, Burton recorded two Top 10 finishes already in the opening two races. As a matter of fact, Harrison Burton is the only Xfinity driver with consecutive top-10 finishes this season. Apparently, that was enough to see him sit comfortably in sixth place in the championship standings.The AM Racing driver has a new lease of lifeHarrison Burton is a legacy racer, as his father is former NASCAR driver Jeff Burton. As such, he has been exposed to racing from a very young age. Of course, the pressure is there to try and emulate his father, but young Harrison has seemingly underestimated the Cup Series. The youngster’s poor Cup form only saw him record six top-10 finishes across three years.After being dropped from the Cup Series, AM Racing sensed an opportunity and snapped him up. As it turned out, AM Racing president Wade Moore had some connections to Team Penske and Wood Brothers Racing. Owing to that, it was relatively easy for him to recruit the out-of-favor driver. According to Moore, it was a full-circle moment for him, and he had to hire Harrison Burton.The team themselves were coming off a tough 2024 Xfinity Series campaign. After Hailie Deegan departed early in the season, they completed the season with the help of several part-time drivers. Now, Harrison Burton is expected to be a key figure, who will have the team built around him. It also helps that AM Racing has a technical alliance with Haas Factory Team, but that also comes with high expectations.The post Ousted Cup Series Driver Harrison Burton Optimistic About Turning the Tables and Rising Back In the Ranks appeared first on EssentiallySports.