Impressive Weekend Turns to Disappointment for Burton at Texas

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What appeared to be an impressive day for the 21-year-old rookie Jeb Burton, turned into a disappointing night when his No. 4 Arrowhead Chevrolet ran out of fuel with only six laps remaining in the WinStar World Casino 350 at Texas Motor Speedway. Receiving his seventh Keystone Light pole award of the season, Burton and his Turner Scott Motorsports (TSM) team felt their brand new truck had a real shot at returning to the Texas-sized victory lane for a second time this year, but a combination of handling and fuel issues resulted in a 26th-place finish at the No Limits track, taking Burton to fifth in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) Driver Point Standings.

 

Returning as the most recent race winner at the 1.5-mile oval track, Burton and his team came equipped with TSM-602, a brand new truck straight out of the windtunnel. Ranking fifth fastest in the weekend’s first practice session, the No. 4 team elected to run just eight laps, choosing to participate more in the final session due to similar race-like conditions. Once on the track, the Arrowhead Chevy quickly jumped to second on the speed charts, with Burton reporting that the truck felt “awesome” and was doing everything he needed it to do. With a top-notch truck at a familiar speedway, Burton impressed again as he laid down the fastest qualifying time and won his seventh pole award of the season. The 21-year-old Rookie of the Year candidate is now tied for the most pole awards won by a rookie driver in one season, a record currently held by Austin Dillon.

 

Leading the field into the WinStar World Casino 350, Burton quickly dropped two positions as the field made their way around Turn 2 due to a tight-handling truck. As the first caution came out on lap 24, crew chief Mike Hillman Jr. called Burton to pit road for four tires, fuel and a few adjustments to correct the truck’s neutral handling. In a tight battle on the restart, the No. 4 Arrowhead Chevy settled into the top ten with Burton reporting that he was having issues turning the truck. The TSM crew made more adjustments as the track went yellow again on lap 60 and gave Burton four tires and fuel. Restarting in the eighth position, Burton settled into the top 10 once again for a long green-flag run. As the final caution arose on lap 100, the Arrowhead truck came to pit road for four tires, fuel and another round of adjustments. In a battle off of pit road, another competitor made slight contact with Burton, but Hillman and spotter Kevin Hamlin saw no visible damage to the No. 4 truck.

 

During the final long caution-free run in the WinStar World Casino 350, Burton remained in the top 10. With just six laps to go, Burton quickly radioed to his crew that something was wrong, and before he knew it, he began slowing down and rapidly dropping track position. Coming to a halt on pit road, the No. 4 Arrowhead truck had run out of fuel in the final laps of the race, ultimately resulting in a disappointing 26th-place finish for the TSM team.

 

“I’m frustrated and disappointed,” said Burton. “This was a huge blow for us in points and it could have been avoided. We had a great truck this weekend, but between handling issues and constantly getting raced three-wide, it was hard to do anything. I just want to put this weekend behind us and move on. I’m bummed that we dropped another position in point standings, but I’m not letting that top five out of my sight. The next two weekends are ‘sink or swim’ for us.”

 

TSM PR

Speedway Digest Staff
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