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Burton Bounty Rookie of the Race; Eckes Leads Bounty Rookie Standings Following Daytona

www.arcaracing.com February 28, 2019

Race winner Harrison Burton (No. 20 DEX Imaging Toyota) earned the Bounty Rookie of the Race award in the ARCA Menards Series season-opening Lucas Oil 200 driven by General Tire at Daytona International Speedway. Burton, son of 21-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series winner and current NASCAR on NBC analyst Jeff Burton, led 48 laps on the day en route to his third career ARCA Menards Series win in just his twelfth series start.

Burton joins his father as a Daytona winner. The elder Burton won the July 400-miler at Daytona in 2000.

While Burton won the Bounty Rookie of the Race award, and the $250 bonus that goes along with it, his Venturini Motorsports teammate Christian Eckes (No. 15 JBL Audio Toyota) leads the year-long Bounty Rookie Challenge standings. While still an ARCA rookie, Burton is anticipated to run a partial schedule in the ARCA Menards Series in 2019 while pursuing the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series championship. Although eligible for rookie of the race awards, Burton is not registered for the year-long rookie of the year honors.

Eckes leads the Bounty Rookie Challenge standings on the strength of his fourth-place finish at Daytona. Eckes won the General Tire Pole Award in qualifying and led nine laps in his first career Daytona appearance. Eckes has run a partial schedule in the ARCA Menards Series for the past two years, but has not exceeded the number of starts per season to lose his rookie of the year eligibility. Eckes is scheduled to run the full schedule for Venturini Motorsports, running for the season championship and the Bounty Rookie of the Year award.

Timmy Vigh, Jr. (No. 10 Extreme Energy Cleaner Toyota) is second, Brenden Queen (No. 35 Vizion Motorsports Toyota) is third, Paul Williamson (No. 36 Vizion Motorsports Toyota) is fourth, and Scott Melton (No. 69 Melton McFadden Insurance Agency Ford) rounds out the top five.

Notable former winners of the Bounty Rookie Challenge in the ARCA Menards Series include current Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series drivers Alex Bowman, Chris Buescher, and Michael McDowell, current NASCAR on NBC analyst Parker Kligerman, and former series champions Scott Stovall, Lee Raymond, Bill Venturini, Frank Kimmel, and Bill Baird.

The ARCA Menards Series season continues at the half-mile Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Florida on Saturday, March 9. Practice starts at 1 pm ET/12 pm CT; General Tire Pole Qualifying is set for 4:30 pm ET/3:30 pm CT; and the ARCA Pensacola 200 is set to go green at 8 pm ET/7 pm CT and will be televised live on MAVTV. ARCARacing.com will have live timing & scoring, live chat, and live track updates throughout all on track sessions free for ARCA for Me members. New members may register for free at ARCARacing.com/login.