By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — After tying his career-best Xfinity Series finish, Jeb Burton was in tears.
Finishing fourth in Saturday’s Indiana 250 from Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Burton was overcome with emotion. With sponsorship difficulties leading him to part-time racing across all three national series, Burton drove his fifth start for JR Motorsports in 2019 on Saturday.
This one was perhaps his most emotional, “crying like a baby” in postrace interviews.
“Man, just a lot of emotions. I’m crying like a little baby,” Burton said, wiping tears from his reddened eyes. “You don’t know if you’re ever going to race again. This sport is so tough, so sponsorship-driven. A lot of emotions right now to run good like that.”
The finish was his second top five and fourth top 10 in his five starts with JRM. The lone non-top 10 was a mechanical DNF at Bristol last month.
“I’m lucky to have a team like that and the sponsors I got. This means a lot,” he said. “When it comes to this racing stuff, it’s so much emotion that goes into it. I’ve had to bust my ass to get every sponsor I got. It hasn’t been easy.”
With two races upcoming for Burton (Texas and Homestead) the Virginian has the confidence to know victories would be possible with more race time.
“I’m in a good position now with JR Motorsports,” he said. “I was a little disappointed because I knew we were right there in position to win. We can win if we race all the time together.”
Greeted by family after the race, Burton relished the time of celebration despite missing out on the win.
“Every time I get in the racecar I feel like I have something to prove,” he said. “You don’t know, this could be the last time we’re out here.”