Jeb Burton and the No. 13 Estes team were confident entering Thursday night’s UNOH 225 at Kentucky Speedway following two top-10 runs in the dual NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) practice sessions and a track-best third-place qualifying effort. Unfortunately, the ThorSport Racing driver wouldn’t have the night he envisioned after getting loose entering Turn 3, ultimately tagging the wall. The resulting damage relegated the sophomore driver to a 27th-place finish in his second NCWTS start at the 1.5-mile oval.
Burton complained his Toyota Tundra was loose on entry in the opening laps of the 150-lap event, but maintained a position inside the top-five for the first 40 circuits. As the laps clicked off and the handling continued to fade, Burton began falling back through the top-12 just past the half-way mark in the 17th annual NCWTS event in the “Bluegrass State.” Regrettably, with 50 laps remaining, Burton got loose and slammed hard into the Turn 4 wall, causing damage to the splitter, right side and tail of the No. 13 machine. Crew chief Jeriod Prince ordered Burton to bring the battered machine to pit road for repairs, but ultimately retired the ThorSport Racing Tundra early, crediting the second-generation driver with a 27th-place finish.
Notes:
• The 2014 UNOH 225 marked Burton’s second NCWTS start at Kentucky Speedway
• Burton’s third-place qualifying effort was a track-best for the Virginia native
• In 2014, Burton has two top-10 finishes
• Despite the DNF in Thursday night’s UNOH 225, Burton has completed 94.9% of the laps attempted in 2014 (1266 of 1334)
• Burton is currently 11th in the 2014 NCWTS point standings, a mere one point outside the top-10
Quotes:
“I was pretty happy with my Estes Toyota Tundra in both practice sessions and qualifying – I was really looking forward to a solid run tonight. We struggled with a free on entry condition most of the race and I just got loose getting in to Turn 3, thought I had it saved and then it cut right back up the track. It was my fault and I feel really bad for my guys, they deserve a good finish. We will regroup from this and I look forward to getting back to Iowa in a couple weeks.”
ABOUT ESTES EXRESS LINES:
Headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, Estes is a leading, full-service freight transportation provider offering a complete range of shipping solutions including LTL, time critical, volume & truckload, global and custom solutions. Founded in 1931 by W.W. Estes and still owned by the Estes family, today’s Estes is the largest, privately-held LTL carrier in the nation. With more than 210 terminals across the country and a global service footprint, Estes has grown into one of the most respected total-solutions providers in the industry.
ABOUT THORSPORT RACING:
ThorSport Racing, based in a state-of-the-art 100,000-square-foot facility in Sandusky, Ohio, is the longest-tenured NASCAR Camping World Truck Series team. ThorSport, which has run in the Truck Series since 1996, in 2014 will run the No. 88 Menards Toyota Tundra driven by 2013 drivers’ champion Matt Crafton, the No. 98 Nextant Aerospace/Smokey Mountain Herbal Snuff/Carolina Nut Co./Curb Records Toyota Tundra driven by Johnny Sauter and the No. 13 Carolina Nut Co. Toyota Tundra driven by Jeb Burton in the Truck Series and the No. 13 Toyota Camry in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards.