Jeb Burton snaps top 10 dry spell with JAR’s first win

Jeb Burton last scored a NASCAR Xfinity Series top ten forty-seven races ago at Talladega Superspeedway in 2021, so it is fitting he snapped the drought there when he edged out Sheldon Creed to win Saturday’s Ag-Pro 300. The victory also marked the first triumph for Jordan Anderson Racing, fulfilling their namesake owner’s goal of making the playoffs in just their first year as a multi-car operation.

Burton and Creed traded the lead throughout the final ten laps, which were overshadowed by multiple wrecks. One crash came with three laps to go and caused Daniel Hemric to flip onto his roof in turn four. Oddly, he was not the only car to go over as Blaine Perkins went around on lap 49, resulting in his car barrel rolling multiple times down the backstretch. It was the first NASCAR race with multiple flips since the Cup Series’ 2016 Talladega spring race, while the most recent case in Xfinity was the 2000 Daytona opener.

Amid the carnage, Burton held off Creed to score his second Xfinity win, the first also coming at Talladega two years prior. His JAR team-mate Parker Retzlaff finished seventh to wrap up a strong day for the team.

Interestingly, Burton’s victory came in the #27, with which his father Ward Burton scored his maiden Xfinity victory at Rockingham in 1992. His uncle Jeff Burton even has twenty-seven career Xfinity wins.

“The only thing I’m disappointed about is I didn’t get to do a burnout—blew the transmission out of it,” quipped Burton. “I’m pumped up. I’m out of breath from yelling. Went through some stuff in the offseason and I’m more focused now than ever. These guys have made racing fun again for me.

“Our little team, you have no idea how good this feels. This is huge. Locked into the playoffs. I can promise you one thing: we’re gonna drink a lot of beer tonight.”

Others to enjoy breakthrough finishes include Caesar Bacarella and Joey Gase with career bests of sixth and ninth, respectively. Ryan Ellis nearly added a second top ten for Bacarella’s Alpha Prime Racing in eleventh.

On the other hand, Saturday was a day to forget for JR Motorsports as three of their four drivers wrecked together on lap 100 with Derek Kraus. Brandon Jones, the only survivor from JRM mustered a fourteenth, though Jones had his share of trouble when he was caught up in a wreck with JRM ally Sam Mayer and Riley Herbst on lap 76.

Race results