MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Dean Thompson will return and Harrison Burton will join Sam Hunt Racing for the 2026 season, team owner Sam Hunt announced Saturday at Martinsville Speedway.
The Xfinity Series will be known as the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series in 2026.
Thompson is completing his first full-time Xfinity season with Sam Hunt Racing. Burton will join the team after spending this season with AM Racing.
This marks a return to Toyota for Burton, who won the pole for Saturday night’s race at Martinsville.
“It’s just a great fit,” Burton said. “I’m super, super excited, couldn’t be more excited to join this group. For me, it kind of what feels like going back home to our friends at Toyota.”
Thompson is looking forward to a second full season with the organization. So is Hunt.
“There was some risk at bringing in Dean last year,” Hunt said. “Dean was not at his most confident point in his driving career and for me, my fulfillment this year has been watching Dean grow as a person. He’s grown to have this humility and this desire to be embedded into the program and I think that has correlated completely to his on-track performance being as strong as it has been.
“I feel like for Dean, being a first-year Xfinity guy with a group like ours and making a legitimate run at the tail end of the playoffs this year was a really positive thing.”
Hunt also is thrilled to have Burton join the team.
“I’ve known Harrison for years now at a bit of a distance, but I’ve always admired his persona and how he treats people and how he acts, along with how hard he works and, obviously, being a pretty accomplished race car driver,” Hunt said.
Burton entered Saturday night’s Xfinity race at Martinsville 12th in the points. Thompson entered the race 16th in the points.
Sam Hunt Racing had one full-time team this season and had a second team run about half the season as the team looked to running two full-time teams in 2026.
