After sponsorship fell through, Jeb Burton lands new NASCAR Trucks ride for Daytona

By Feb 6, 2014, 10:34 PM EST
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Less than a week ago, Jeb Burton experienced one of the harshest realities of NASCAR.

Just as he was preparing for his second full season on the Camping World Truck Series, Burton learned that primary sponsorship for his ride had fallen through.

Bye bye sponsorship, bye bye season, bye bye Turner Scott Motorsports.

Burton took to Twitter to express his emotion: “Really hard time for my team and my family. My future is unclear right now, but we’re doing everything we can to be on the track in 2014.”

But on Thursday, Burton also experienced some of the largesse within the NASCAR family when it was announced that ThorSport Racing had stepped up and offered Burton a ride in both the season-opening Camping World Truck Series and ARCA races in two weeks at Daytona International Speedway.

Burton, 21, the son of 2002 Daytona 500 winner Ward Burton and nephew of soon-to-be NASCAR on NBC TV analyst Jeff Burton, will drive the No. 13 Toyota for ThorSport in the trucks race.

And if things go well and additional sponsorship steps forward, Burton may wind up doing additional races for ThorSport, which won championships last season in both the trucks series (Matt Crafton) and ARCA (Frank Kimmel).

“The opportunity to come to ThorSport is a big deal for me, my career and my family,” Burton said. “It’s an honor to me that (team owners) Duke and Rhonda Thorson would make the call to put me in their vehicles — the best there is in both series.

“Mr. Thorson has proven his commitment to the Truck Series — he’s a racer, that’s what it’s all about and it feels good to be here. I feel like it’s a place where I can race, and win for many years.”

Burton, who finished fifth in the trucks standings for Turner Scott Motorsports last season, will be part of a three-driver ThorSport juggernaut including returning champ Crafton and Johnny Sauter, who finished one point and one spot ahead of Burton in last year’s standings.

Burton has been looked upon as one of the most promising young drivers in NASCAR today. He won his first race last June at Texas in only his 12th career start and earned an outstanding seven pole positions during the season. He also finished eighth in a one-off Nationwide Series start at Kentucky.

“I can’t tell you how great it is to get this deal done in a very short amount of time,” ThorSport team manager David Pepper said. “This gives us a great driver that can win both the Truck and ARCA races over the next couple weeks.

“We’ve had our eyes on Jeb the last few years and one thing that really stands out is how well he gets along with Matt and Johnny and the respect they have for each other. To have the opportunity to get Jeb into our ThorSport family of drivers is a great move for both parties.”

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Ford Mustang GT3 test has Austin Cindric dreaming of Daytona: ‘I want to drive that car’

By Mar 22, 2023, 2:30 PM EDT
Cindric Ford GT3 test
Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images
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Austin Cindric wasn’t the “mystery” test driver behind the wheel of the new Ford Mustang GT3 at Sebring International Raceway, but the Team Penske driver desperately wanted to be.

Ford CEO Jim Farley, an amateur sports car driver himself, made the big reveal via a Tuesday tweet that provided the first video evidence of the GT3 Mustang on track.

“I’ve watched the video in question about a million times,” Cindric said Wednesday during a Ford Performance Zoom news conference to promote NASCAR’s first road course weekend of the season at Circuit of the Americas. “Definitely exciting times for sure. I want to drive that car. It suits my experience level and also the relationships that I have.”

Ford will enter the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship next season with its GT3 Mustang, entering a two-car factory effort (that will be managed by Multimatic) in GTD Pro and making customer cars available in the GT Daytona category.

That increases the likelihood of seeing more NASCAR drivers crossing over to IMSA. Cindric has been the only full-time Cup driver in the Rolex 24 at Daytona the past two years, but Ford Performance global director Mark Rushbrook has said the GT3 Mustang will provide more opportunities.

Ford has used its GT4 Mustang as a NASCAR driver development tool in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge with Harrison Burton and Zane Smith combining to win the season opener at Daytona International Speedway in January.

“We’re excited about the Next Gen car and the new architecture there and the similarities between that car and GT3 and even GT4 cars,” Rushbrook said at the announcement of the Ford GT3 program in January 2022 at Daytona. “We think it’s a great opportunity and to do be able to do that in a 24-hour race and get NASCAR drivers even more time is something we need to consider taking advantage of that opportunity.”

Given his sports car background, Cindric probably still would be in the Rolex 24 regardless. He has eight IMSA starts since the 2017 season opener at Daytona, racing a Lexus RCF GT3 and Mercedes-AMG GT3 in the GT category. The 2022 Daytona 500 winner made his second LMP2 start this year with Rick Ware Racing.

But Cindric’s preference naturally would be in a Ford, particularly with sports car racing enjoying convergence and crossovers in both GT and prototype racing.

“It’s an exciting time in GT racing, just as it is now for prototype racing with a lot of new regulations and manufacturers building new GT3 cars,” he said. “And also the opportunity with WEC (the World Endurance Championship) and Le Mans and how that all lines up for that category of car. It’s definitely an exciting time. I want to be as much of a part of that as possible.”

Though those odds seemingly will increase with multiple Ford entries in the Rolex 24 field next year, Cindric said NASCAR drivers still have to put in the networking to land rides as he has in recent years.

“Now how (the GT3 Mustang) relates to specifically NASCAR drivers and how often they want to be in the Rolex, could it be an influence? Absolutely, as far as the tie-in with the manufacturer,” Cindric said. “But the challenge and the drive and the logistics of getting an opportunity for a race like the Rolex 24 will be just as challenging as it always is to find your one-off ride for the race. At least from my experience, that’s what I still anticipate.”

It turned out the “mystery” test driver wasn’t from NASCAR (Farley revealed the driver to be 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Joey Hand after a fan asked whether it was Joey Logano).

But Cindric believes there could be more Cup drivers — and perhaps himself — behind the wheel of Mustang GT3s in the future.

“There’s definitely more of a pathway than I think there would be before as far as Ford drivers are concerned,” he said. “Hopefully, I’ll get the opportunity to drive that thing. It’s obviously a great looking car. That’s the first box you’ve got to check. And it’s cool (to have) a guy like Jim Farley, no doubt he’s a racer just as much as he is steering the ship for Ford. It’s cool to see he’s just as excited as the rest of us about it.”