TC Daily Pit Stop: Harrison Burton Departing AM Racing; NASCAR Issues Warning to Teams About Race Manipulation

TC Daily Pit Stop: Thursday, October 9, 2025

Oct 09, 2025

Harrison Burton will depart AM Racing at the conclusion of the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series to pursue another opportunity in 2026 — Craig White, TobyChristie.com

Harrison Burton, who impressively helped AM Racing complete an incredible turnaround in the NASCAR Xfinity Series as the driver and team worked inside the Playoffs following a rough season for the team a season ago, will not return to the organization for the 2026 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series season.

AM Racing issued a statement on Wednesday confirming the departure of Burton and thanking the driver for his contributions, including two top-fives and 10 top-10s in his short tenure with the team, at season’s end.

“AM Racing announces that Harrison Burton will not return to the team for the 2026 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series season,” the team explained in its statement. “During his tenure, Burton helped elevate the program with team-record top-five and top-ten finishes and guided the No. 25 to AM Racing’s first-ever Playoff appearance. The organization thanks Harrison and the Burton family for their professionalism and contributions on and off the track, and wishes them continued success in Harrison’s future endeavors. AM Racing will share additional updates regarding 2026 driver and program plans at a later date.”

NASCAR to Issue Warning to Teams About Race Manipulation Following Late-Race Roval Drama

NASCAR has issued a warning to NASCAR Cup Series teams about race manipulation following the chaotic finish at the Charlotte Roval — Jared Bokanoski, TobyChristie.com

After the chaotic closing laps of last Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Round of 12 elimination race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, NASCAR is seemingly once again drawing a line in the sand regarding race manipulation.

On this week’s episode of the Hauler Talk podcast, NASCAR Managing Director of Communications Mike Forde confirmed that the sanctioning body will be re-emphasizing its expectations to teams ahead of the next cut-off race at Martinsville, which is set to take place in three weeks.

“At a certain point during this week, we will just remind teams, ‘Let’s not put yourselves or ourselves in jeopardy here,’” Forde explained. “Fans should be coming to the race track expecting a straight-up race where each position is fought for as hard as possible. If we do see something or hear something we don’t like, we are going to step in.”