BRISTOL, Tenn. -- No driver wants to lose their spot in the top-tier NASCAR Cup Series. However, a two-time Cup Series champion sees Harrison Burton's move to AM Racing as a win for driver and team alike.
Joey Logano is quite familiar with the Xfinity Series organization. He has made three starts in the No. 15 AM Racing Ford since the team and Hailie Deegan parted ways midseason. He has started to root for the team after building some relationships with its personnel.
Logano has delivered two top-10 finishes in three starts, and he has seen potential while behind the wheel. He also sees a path to a brighter future for the young organization now that another Cup Series driver will be in the building providing consistent feedback.
"It's good for Harrison. It's good for AM to have each other," Logano said in response to a question from AltDriver. "There's so much potential in that race team and they really just need consistency. That was the biggest thing I took out of the whole thing. When you're switching to a different driver every week -- and it's not their fault -- but some drivers have zero experience and some have a lot of experience.
"But the ones that have none can't guide the team into the right things. If you haven't really raced an Xfinity car many times, you don't know what it's supposed to feel like, so you can't tell them what's wrong. In return, the team can't get any better because they don't know what's wrong because the driver's not telling them, so they need some consistency. Harrison will definitely be great for that."
Burton has experience delivering wins in Xfinity. He's celebrated four times in the second-tier series, albeit with Joe Gibbs Racing. Now, he will be tasked with helping a younger organization quickly grow, one that has featured a rotating group of drivers achieving varying levels of success.
Burton will have more responsibility on his shoulders as he moves back to Xfinity. He has seen championship-winning teams operate up close, and he has faced off against the best drivers in NASCAR. It will be up to him to pass along that information while becoming a leader in the building.
This is a role that Burton's fellow drivers believe he can and will embrace.
"I think, at the end of the day, they have a lot of potential with that team," Cole Custer said about AM Racing. "I think you've seen the last few races they've been able to show speed, it's just a matter of getting the finishes.
"But I feel like he'll be able to come back down and he can bring value to an organization -- really be able to lead an organization and get them better throughout a year."
Multiple championship-winning drivers have faith in Burton's abilities. That doesn't mean the move to AM Racing will be without struggles. The team will have some things to work through early in the season while growing together.
Ultimately, however, the expectation is that Burton's time driving for Wood Brothers Racing will only make the move back to Xfinity pay off.
All of the ingredients are there.
"When you go back to Xfinity after running Cup and you see the level of not only the drivers but the people that are in the Cup level, it's night and day different," Logano said.
"And when you're able to take some of that experience of like, 'I've seen the other side' and bring that to a team like AM, it's a huge value for them. I think it's a great win for both of them."