Jeb Burton hopes to flip season around and 'stop the bleeding'
06/26/2024 08:30 AM
Just about anything that could go wrong has gone wrong for Jeb Burton as the Xfinity Series nears the halfway point of the 2024 season. The most recent incident was when the No. 27 Chevrolet became loose in the hauler on the way to New Hampshire Motor Speedway, caving a football-sized hole into the car‘s nose.
Burton earned a second full season opportunity with Jordan Anderson Racing after a successful first year with the team. They made a playoff appearance via the team‘s first victory at Talladega Superspeedway last April. Returning with him is crew chief Shane Whitbeck and spotter Mike Herman Jr., both of whom are instrumental parts of Burton‘s prevalence with the No. 27 team. It‘s the first time he‘s had a second consecutive season with a team during his 13-year NASCAR career.
"Mike Herman Jr., Shane Whitbeck and Jordan [Anderson], those three guys believe in me and know that I can do it," Burton told Jayski.com last weekend. "That‘s what I‘ve never had before. I‘ve always had somebody criticizing what I‘m doing. I never felt like people believed in me."
But that belief hasn‘t translated into on-track success in 2024. Burton‘s lone top 10 is at Talladega, placing ninth with a car that he felt he could have won with. However, a broken part in qualifying set the team back before the race even began.
Misfortune has been the theme of Burton‘s season. Through the first eight events of 2024, he had a best finish of 23rd (twice), with four finishes of 30th or worse including a pair of DNFs. The results aren‘t an indicator of the potential the No. 27 team has, Burton said, as he believes JAR has more raw pace than it did in 2023 despite the poor finishes. He‘s on pace for the worst average finish of his career, currently sitting at 24.7.
"[At Iowa], we had a top-six car and blew a right-front tire," Burton said. "It‘s been one thing after another: I‘ve been caught up in wrecks, I‘ve got wrecked, parts have broken. It‘s been ridiculous.
"We qualified fifth at Charlotte. We were hauling ass at Daytona and got wrecked with 10 to go. We‘ve been good. I‘ve made four mistakes this year: sped on pit road twice, I pushed too hard at Texas and then at Sonoma, I should have let [Chandler Smith] blast through everybody instead of sticking my nose in there. That was my four mistakes out of [16] races and have had no results for the other [12]."
Anderson knows his entries have more speed this year. Parker Retzlaff scored the organization‘s first pole at Richmond Raceway. But the lackluster finishes for Burton have dropped him to 21st in the championship standings, more than 200 points below the elimination line with 10 races remaining in the regular season.
"Our team is still all in," Anderson said. "We are slowly but surely starting to figure out a lot of things on our own. We‘re going through some growing pains, trying to figure out how to get better."
Obstacle after obstacle, the No. 27 team is trying to persevere. The team hasn‘t cussed each other, hoping their calamity flips sooner rather than later.
Burton‘s situation could always be worse, he explained. He‘s had previous stops in NASCAR where he was a non factor and miserable.
"When I was with Our Motorsports, it was probably worse because I didn‘t have the speed that I have now," Burton said. "It was one thing after another that year too. I‘ve been through it before. BK Racing, so it can be worse. I‘m definitely way happier being here than I was at those two places."
Looking ahead at the remainder of the regular season, Burton pinpoints Daytona as the team‘s best shot to win. He‘s not sure what to expect at Michigan International Speedway, where the series will run the superspeedway package for the first time. He also believes he will be a threat this weekend at Nashville Superspeedway.
The No. 27 team has reassessed some of its standards, however. Burton is the de facto leader of the team and he‘s trying to remain positive.
"It‘s definitely been testing me," Burton said. "It‘s been tough because I‘ve been doing this for a while now, and it‘s a grind. I don‘t just get to race. I find the sponsors, take care of the sponsorship, manage it. Most drivers only worry about the racecar; it‘s not that simple for me.
"I think the goal now is to stop the bleeding and get some momentum and finish the races where we‘re supposed to finish them, inside the top 10, top 15 and when we can get those top fives, do it. Just finish all the laps like we were doing and get some momentum back so we can get back in the groove and start building and getting better for next year."
Burton hopes to return for a third season with JAR, and the team wants him back. It‘s all about putting the pieces together and making sure a deal is in place.
"If you look at what a guy like [Justin] Allgaier has been for JRM, I told [Burton], 'We look at you as being that opportunity for our team, to be here for the long term,‘" Anderson said. "Let him grow his program with our team and grow our partner relations and just keep building that program. We hope that it‘s going to be a long-term relationship, something we can keep growing every year and keep making better."
All it takes is one race to flip the narrative, though. And Burton is a proven winner at the Xfinity level.
