Daytona provided drama on Saturday night as Harrison Burton powered ahead in the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford, defeating Kyle Busch and paving his way into the 2024 playoffs.

Parker Retzlaff pushed Burton ahead of fellow Chevrolet driver Busch in the final. Burton then blocked aggressively, crossed the finish line and finally became a NASCAR Cup Series winner after 98 career starts. And he did it all with his father and NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Burton in the locker room.

Watch: Harrison Burton ‘wanted to do anything’ to get victory number 100 for Wood Brothers

The Wood Brothers will part ways with Burton at the end of the 2024 season. The 23-year-old was very emotional in his post-race interview as his future in the sport is uncertain.

“I don’t know! I cried the whole victory lap,” an angry Burton said. “Of course I got fired from that job. I wanted to do everything I could for the Wood Brothers. They gave me an incredible opportunity in life. To give them 100 (wins) on the way out… that’s unbelievable. We’re in the playoffs now!”

He added: “It’s unbelievable. It’s been the toughest three years of my life. It’s obviously been the toughest three years for some of these guys. To win like we just did, to beat the best in the business, Kyle Busch, at the finish line. It’s just amazing.”

The Wood Brothers have been competing in NASCAR since 1953, but have not been in Victory Lane since Pocono in 2017.

Busch finished second, Christopher Bell third, Cody Ware fourth and Ty Gibbs fifth. Bubba Wallace, Parker Retzlaff, Brad Keselowski, Daniel Hemric and Chris Buescher completed the top ten.

The victory completely changes the situation in the playoffs: Bubba Wallace is 21 points behind, Ross Chastain 27 points, Chris Buescher is now in 16th and last place.

The race was marked by 40 lead changes between 16 riders, but was also slowed down by seven yellow phases and one red flag interruption. Both stage winners (Berry and Joey Logano) were unable to finish the race after crashes.

The final laps of the race were pure chaos. A yellow flag phase just before the pit stops under the green flag led to a sprint to the finish. Michael McDowell was distracted from the lead and flew through the middle of the field. Fortunately, the car got back on its wheels.

Unfortunately, Josh Berry was the next driver to spin out of the lead and things got worse. He flipped over in another rollover accident, hitting the inside wall and spinning like a top on his roof. He was able to climb out of the car without injury. An additional wind deflector added to the right side of the cars this week didn’t seem to help.