By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
Jeb Burton had family, friends and team to console after losing Saturday’s Xfinity race under caution.
The result came after minutes of NASCAR reviewing the time of caution when race leader Connor Zilisch got turned and plowed the inside backstretch wall. Burton was three-wide for the lead with Austin Hill and Jesse Love.
And though Burton was confident he was a nose ahead, NASCAR found Hill to be the leader at the caution light, granting him the victory.
Forced to settle for second, Burton was seen chucking his water bottle deep into the infield grass before speaking with father Ward and team.
“The angles I keep seeing, we won the race,” Burton said. “Maybe there is a different angle that I haven’t seen. Before we leave here today, I am definitely going to see proof because what I keep seeing on the TV screens doesn’t look like we lost the race.
“If we lost the race, we lost the race obviously. But I feel like we won. I had the [Nos.] 2 car here and 21 car here and I was ahead of all three of them from my point of view.”
NASCAR displayed the timestamp with the cars frozen in position, seeming to indeed show Hill’s No. 21 slightly ahead of Burton.
With plenty of time to review the evidence ahead, Burton’s gripe also targeting the use of the caution flag. Zilisch’s hit was massive and the yellow as thrown after impact.
“I don’t know why we threw the caution anyway, I don’t get that at all,” he said. “I feel like we should race back unless somebody was flipping or seriously hurt, we should be able to race back.”
Though gritting his teeth, Burton does exit Talladega with a second-place finish for Jordan Anderson Racing, a team with only nine top fives in their history.
The result was also Burton’s first top five since his last win, which came at Talladega in 2023.
“We don’t have a ton of opportunities to win,” he said. “These are the tracks we can win at. My guys did a great job all day, brought us a fast racecar. We did all we could.
“So close. So close. So frustrating.”