Jeb Burton Scores First NASCAR Camping World Truck Win In Texas
By John Sturbin, Special to NASCAR Wire Service
Distributed by The Sports Xchange
FORT WORTH, Texas -- Rookie Jeb Burton added another chapter to his family's racing history Friday when he won the 17th annual Winstar World Casino 400 at Texas Motor Speedway.
Burton, the 20-year-old son of 2002 Daytona 500 champion Ward Burton, posted his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory at the expense of Ty Dillon, grandson of NASCAR championship team-owner Richard Childress.
Jeff Burton, Jeb's uncle and a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series regular for team-owner Childress, won the first Cup race on TMS' high-banked, 1.5-mile quadoval in April 1997. Last night, Jeb took the lead from Dillon on a restart on Lap 144 of the scheduled 167 and motored to victory by 0.533-seconds. German Quiroga finish third with series points leader Matt Crafton in fourth.
"Man it's freaking awesome," said Burton, driver of the No. 4 Chevrolet Silverado fielded by Turner Scott Motorsports. "I'm just living the dream. I've got a great team here. I want to thank Arrowhead and everyone in South Boston (his hometown in Virginia). It's huge. I've been telling everybody once we get one (win) they're going to start stacking up. Thanks everybody that's helped me in my career."
A rejuvenated Brendan Gaughan finished fifth after making a strong bid for what would have been his fifth career victory at TMS. Gaughan was looking to add to his personal history in Cowtown, where he scored that first win 11 years ago to the day -- June 7, 2002.
Dillon closed with a rush over the final two laps, cutting Burton's margin of victory to 0.139-seconds. Already a three-time pole-winner in the season's first seven races, Burton's breakthrough victory came in his 12th career NCWTS start.
"It's a heartbreaker," said Dillon, driver of the No. 3 Chevy. "Our truck was the dominant truck all night. That last restart, it seemed like the No. 88 (Crafton) gave the No. 4 (of Burton) a good push down the backstretch. I can't blame it on anybody. You get a draft, that's five extra horsepower. If I could do it again tomorrow, I'd do it again, take the top.
"If we had one more corner...I'd like to make a request to move the straightaway here like Talladega right now. But that's cool for Jeb. Experience is a key in this series so all us rookies can do is drive our hearts out."
Pole-sitter Johnny Sauter, who swept both Truck Series events last year, finished seventh.
