Over the off-season, Jeb Burton started an outdoor hunting conservation land management that will soon be linked to his social media for people to find.
However, the racing side remains the same as 2016: unsure.
“I’m not sure what our plans are yet on the racing side of things,” Burton told Frontstretch in a phone interview on Friday. “We’re working every day to look at all of our options. Hopefully in a week or so, I’ll be able to announce my plans for the year, but I have no idea at this moment.”
Burton started off 2016 looking at a full-time opportunity in the NASCAR XFINITY Series with Richard Petty Motorsports. After 11 races, the No. 43 team was shut down due to a lack of funding.
Throughout the remainder of the season, Burton competed in three additional XFINITY races with Biagi-DenBeste Racing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Richmond International Raceway and Charlotte Motor Speedway. His best finish in those three events was a 12th at the Brickyard.
With some veterans of the sports stepping away from the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, Burton is hopeful that one day he will be back in the top division of NASCAR. For now, he is worried about getting in something competitive at any level.
“I’ve done some things in my career where getting into equipment that I didn’t think I could run competitively and I don’t want to do that again,” Burton said. “If I can go run top 15 in one of the top three series or top 20 in the Cup Series, it would be great. There are no rides available for Cup, but there are some rides available in the XFINITY Series and Truck Series. We’re trying to figure out what we’re going to do and we’re going to pick the best option for my career and get back on track.”
In 2015, Burton spent the year struggling to qualify for races in the Cup Series for BK Racing. He made 28 of the 36 events with a best finish of 27th at Martinsville Speedway toward the end of the season.
Burton feels that the only way he can get back in a competitive car is if he and his father, former Daytona 500 winner Ward Burton, can find the right partnership.
“It takes money to do and if you don’t have it, it gets really frustrating,” he said. “It’s easy to get down. Everything happens for a reason, that’s the way I’ve been looking at it. The stars are going to align real soon and I’m going to get in something where I can show what I can do again.
“I haven’t been fortunate enough to find that big partner that can do it. I’ve got a bunch of great partners that have helped me and continue to help me. Estes, State Water Heaters and Rocky Ridge [Custom Trucks] are three that have helped me in every year of my career at some point. Without what they are doing now, I wouldn’t even have a shot to be in anything.”
Burton is open to run any of the three series, including the Truck Series, in which he is a victor, winning in 2013 at Texas Motor Speedway. That same year, he recorded seven poles and finished fifth in the championship standings with Turner Scott Motorsports.
Dustin joined the Frontstretch team at the beginning of the 2016 season. 2020 marks his sixth full-time season covering the sport that he grew up loving. His dream was to one day be a NASCAR journalist, thus why he attended Ithaca College (Class of 2018) to earn a journalism degree. Since the ripe age of four, he knew he wanted to be a storyteller.