Fort Worth, TX – Jeb Burton became a first-time race winner in the Camping World Truck Series after holding off Ty Dillon in the closing laps in Friday night's WinStar World Casino 400 at Texas Motor Speedway.
Burton, who is the 20-year-old son of 2002 Daytona 500 winner Ward Burton, passed Dillon for the lead following a late-race restart. He was running in fourth when the third and final caution came on lap 140 for an accident involving Ross Chastain. During the caution, Burton came out of the pits behind Dillon in second.
Dillon challenged Burton for the lead during the last five laps but came up short at the finish by 0.14 seconds. Burton recorded his maiden truck victory in his 12th start.
"This is awesome," Burton said. "I'm just a little ol' country boy from South Boston (Va.) and living the dream. I've got a great team here."
Burton, who is in his rookie season as driver of the No. 4 Chevrolet for Turner Scott Motorsports, had scored four top-10 finishes and three poles in the first six races this year. Texas was the seventh event. Prior to his win, Burton's best finish in the series was third, which came in April at Martinsville Speedway.
"I've been telling everybody once we get one (win) then they're going to start stacking up," he said.
Earlier in the day, Burton was recognized as one of 13 members of the 2013 NASCAR Next class, a program which spotlights NASCAR's rising stars that are between the ages of 15-24. Chase Elliott, who is the 17-year-old son of 1988 Cup Series champion Bill Elliott, was on the list as well. Elliott has finished fourth, fifth and sixth in his first three career truck starts this season.
Burton's father, who serves as his spotter, won five races in the Sprint Cup Series and four in the Nationwide Series during his NASCAR career. He competed in only one truck race, which came in the 2012 season-opener at Daytona, where he finished eighth.
"It's the biggest day I've ever experienced in racing," Ward Burton admitted. "I wish I had a parachute, so I would have been able to get down here (in victory lane) earlier."
Jeb's uncle is Jeff Burton, who has been a long-time NASCAR veteran and present driver for Richard Childress Racing in Sprint Cup.
Dillon had the dominant truck throughout the race by leading 76 of 167 laps.
"One more lap, one more turn was all that I needed," Dillon said of the last laps. "It was a great effort. We're going to win a bunch of these things, but I wanted that one tonight. We worked so hard for it and led so many laps. I'm a little heart-broken."
German Quiroga finished third, while Matt Crafton, the current points leader, and Brendan Gaughan rounded out the top-five. Gaughan, whose first truck win came at Texas on this date 11 years ago, led 44 laps.
Crafton now holds a 23-point lead over Burton.
"It was a great run, all in all, but we just missed a little bit," Crafton said.
Darrell Wallace Jr. finished sixth, followed by Johnny Sauter, who won both truck races at Texas last year, Ryan Blaney, James Buescher, the defending series champion, and Miguel Paludo. Sauter started on the pole and led the first 11 laps before Dillon moved in front of him.
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