No more rookie stripe

As far as Jeb Burton is concerned, there’s only one disadvantage to losing his rookie status.

“The only thing I’m going to miss about being a rookie is the extra set of tires you get for practice,” Burton said Monday at Daytona. “That was nice. Other than that, it’s cool to be a veteran out there. I’ll have experience at all the race tracks besides two of them we go to, so that’s going to help me a lot.”

Not that Burton needed much help during his rookie season in the series last year. He collected a series-best seven poles and won the seventh event of the season, at Texas. That success has the 21-year-old son of former Daytona 500 winner Ward Burton primed for 2014.

“I’m pumped up,” he said. “My (Turner Scott Motorsports) team is pumped up. I feel like I’ve matured and got better, and I feel like our team is getting better every day. We’ve just got to do the right things this year and not shoot ourselves in the foot and go do our deal — and I think we’ll win a championship.”