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Second consecutive desert race to be 200 laps this time

RELATED: NASCAR Home Tracks

The NASCAR Toyota Mexico Series is once again returning to Phoenix International Raceway, this season with a longer event.

NASCAR announced Friday that the sport’s Mexico Series will hold its opener under the lights at Phoenix for a second consecutive year, running Friday, Feb. 28, as part of a weekend that also includes the Nationwide and Sprint Cup circuits. The Mexico Series became the first international NASCAR-sanctioned tour to hold a points race in the United States when it competed on the 1-mile desert oval a season ago.

That event was a 75-lap race comprised of two segments with a 10-minute break in between, and won by Abraham Calderon. This year the Mexico Series event at Phoenix will be lengthened to 120 laps, and instead of a break the teams will have to make two pits stops.

"The drivers’ experience was amazing."

— Federico Alaman, general director of the NASCAR Mexico Toyota Series

"The teams were asking to have like a regular format race," said Federico Alaman, general director of the series. "In Mexico our races are an average of two hours, two hours and a half, which is almost 200 miles, on every track that we have in Mexico.  When we discussed the opportunity to go again to Phoenix, it was something that we decided between the NASCAR team in the U.S., the NASCAR Mexico team, and obviously some team representatives."

Alaman is expecting a usual field of about 30 cars for the race, despite the travel distance involved for most teams, which are based around Mexico City. But feedback from competitors was universally positive, he added.

"The drivers’ experience was amazing. They didn’t realize that it was going to be a bunch of fans in the grandstands, especially Latin fans or Mexican‑American fans," Alaman said. "… We’ve more than compromised with all the teams to make this happen, and the experience that we as a series and the team owners, the drivers, the Mexican sponsors that we have a chance to invite to the race, it was amazing. We didn’t measure or realize that the first event from the NASCAR Toyota Mexico Series was going to be that big."

George Silbermann, NASCAR’s vice president for touring and weekly series, said discussions about this year’s event began "the day after we ran last year’s event." Phoenix president Bryan Sperber, whose track is celebrating its 50th anniversary this season, called it "really a magical night" when the Mexico tour raced at the venue last season.

"I thought the event was a tremendous success on a lot of fronts," Sperber added. "We hoped that the race would resonate with fans and potential fans in the American Latino market, and it truly delivered." The grandstands were "full of fans that I think probably had never been to PIR before, or if they had, they hadn’t been in a long time. The level of enthusiasm and excitement among what I think is an emerging fan base for the sport as a whole was really exciting to be around that. So I think the event as a whole was just tremendously successful."

Sperber said ticket sales for the event are up over last year. The Phoenix race kicks off a Mexico Series schedule comprised of 15 events, and concludes in November at the Mexico City road course that once hosted the Nationwide Series. The Phoenix opener has quickly emerged as one of the circuit’s crown jewels.

"This is a big step for us on the exposure side, on the growth, on the format and the series of what we’re very proud working on with NASCAR in Mexico," Alaman said. "And I think not only the Latino market, but the Mexicans must feel very proud … because there has not happened in the past to have 100 percent Mexican series go to the U.S. for a second time and have this kind of event."

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Letarte, Earnhardt entering fourth and final season together 

MORE: Dale Jr. profile | Hendrick Motorsports preview | As Junior searches, Evernham insists he’s out

When it comes to determining who his new crew chief will be beginning in 2015, Dale Earnhardt Jr. wants to be in the room when the discussions are taking place. But he’ll leave the ultimate decision up to others within his Hendrick Motorsports team — owner Rick Hendrick foremost among them.

Earnhardt’s current crew chief, Steve Letarte, is leaving after this coming season to become a race analyst for NBC Sports, which returns as a NASCAR broadcast partner beginning in 2015. Although Earnhardt and Letarte have won just one race in their three years together to this point, they’ve helped revive a once-flagging No. 88 program that finished fifth in final points — Earnhardt’s best-ever standing at Hendrick — in 2013.

The duo hopes to build on that this season, during which decisions on a successor to Letarte will eventually have to be made. And although Earnhardt will work most closely with whomever the new signal-caller is, he feels others — like Hendrick, team general manager Doug Duchardt, and Jimmie Johnson‘s crew chief Chad Knaus — are better suited to make the call.

"I know we’ll have these conversations in the middle of the year, or whenever Doug and Rick and those guys want to start having them, and I want to be in the room having those conversations. But Rick was smart enough to put me and Steve together. Doug has his finger on that company as well as anybody. Chad knows the culture inside the race shop. Steve knows the culture inside the race shop. Steve knows what makes me tick, and what makes that team tick. And those are the guys who need to get together and have that conversation," Earnhardt said.

"I’d love to be in that room, but I wouldn’t have the intelligence and expertise that they have to make that decision. They (have) a certain perspective that’s unique to be able to do that. I really want to trust what they think. I don’t know what I would have a big impact on at this point. It’s so fresh still, we haven’t even looked in that direction yet."

Indeed, Hendrick said in the immediate aftermath of Letarte’s decision last month that a call on a replacement would likely wait until late in the year. In more recent days, he’s stood by that timetable.

"I don’t plan to make any decision right now," the team owner said. "I mean, we’ve got a whole year to race. We’ve got a deep bench if you look at the guys we have in the organization, and guys throughout the Nationwide Series and everything else. It’s definitely going to take the right fit. All of our guys, Dale will be involved in that decision and Chad, who’s in that shop, but we’re going to try to run as well with Steve Letarte until the end of the year, and then we’ll make that decision."

And Hendrick said he would welcome any input from Earnhardt. "He has a lot of confidence in us to make the right decision," the owner said, "but at the same time, the chemistry has got to be there, and we want him involved."

Traditionally, Hendrick had made such moves in-house, or looked to those with previous ties to the organization. Letarte moved to Earnhardt’s program from the team of Jeff Gordon, whose current crew chief Alan Gustafson previously worked on Hendrick’s No. 5 team. Although Knaus worked at Melling Racing immediately prior to becoming Johnson’s crew chief, he had been a member of the No. 24 crew under Ray Evernham.

"We’re in a great organization where we have a lot of great people to lean on, and I’m sure we’ll look inside the organization first to see if we find that guy," Earnhardt said. "I want to get excited about what 2015 looks like, I want to get excited about what that change is going to be like, and how that team can get better, and what effect that can have on us as far as performance goes. But I’m going into the last season with Steve, who I love to work with, and I want to really enjoy that moment that is the whole season."

Although Evernham is expanding his consultant work with Hendrick to include some areas of racing operations, he has reiterated countless times that he has no desire to return as a crew chief. And while the organization would appear to have internal candidates such as No. 48 car chief Ron Malec and JR Motorsports crew chief Greg Ives, there are no early indications as to who Earnhardt’s next crew chief might be. Letarte believes the ultimate decision will rest with Hendrick, who was behind the personnel shuffle following the 2010 season that paired him with Earnhardt in the first place.

"I have my opinions on all of it, I’m sure at some point I’ll have my opportunity to sit down with management," said Letarte, who in 2015 will join an NBC booth that also includes 21-time race winner Jeff Burton and announcer Rick Allen. "That’s really Rick’s decision. He knows how to replace people the best, and I want to be around to answer questions, because he might need some questions answered to make his decision. But I think he knows what everybody needs once he gets those questions answered."

Earnhardt sees the looming change as an opportunity to ultimately make the No. 88 team better. "Steve will tell you that as well," the driver said. For the moment, though, he has confidence in his organization to make the right decision on a successor, and he has faith that he and Letarte can make their final season together a memorable one.

"I’m in a good position. If you’ve got to change something as big as a crew chief, I’m in a great organization that can make that change and make it seamless. I’m in a shop with the 48/88 team where the culture is amazing. I know whoever comes in and handles that job will have all the resources needed to have success. Part of me wants to get excited about that and what that looks like and start to figure that out, but there’s a job at hand, and that’s this season," Earnhardt said.

"Me and Steve have an opportunity to wok together one more year. I really enjoy working with that guy, so I feel lucky to have one more year to work with him before he goes off and does his own thing in the broadcast booth. I’m excited for him to have something he’s looking forward to, as a friend, and everything’s going to work out. I’m a believer that everything happens for a reason, and I know it’s gong to be great for him, and I believe it’s an opportunity for our team to get better as well."

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Reunion with Nationwide Series crew chief has second-year driver feeling good for 2014

RELATED: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. profile | Roush Fenway Racing preview | Biffle focused on regaining intermediate edge 

Disappointment isn’t an emotion Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is used to feeling on the race track. In seasons where he competed in every race on the schedule, from the ARCA Racing Series to the NASCAR Nationwide Series, he’s ended with a top-10 average finish. In 2011 and 2012, Stenhouse took home the Nationwide Series championship.

So by the time he had finished the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season with an average finish of 18.9, Stenhouse had become familiar with disappointment for perhaps the first time in his racing career.

"It sucked," Stenhouse candidly admitted. "You know, last year was the first year I didn’t win a race in my career of racing, from the time I was 6.

"… But I think if you take a look at it, a lot of these guys have been working a long time to set their foundation in the Sprint Cup Series, to reach the level they are at. Yeah, some come in and really dominate right off the bat, have that success; some have to build on it."

While in the Nationwide Series, it was Stenhouse who dominated relatively quickly. On the path to his back-to-back championships, he nabbed eight wins, 35 top-fives and 52 top-10s in his two title campaigns. That success didn’t follow the Nationwide champion to NASCAR’s premier series, where he was faced with new challenges.

In addition to driving against the best in stock car racing, the rookie was getting used to the more powerful Generation-6 car, a new crew chief in Scott Graves and interest in his relationship with fellow driver Danica Patrick. A best finish of 11th in the first 25 races of the season indicates just how much the No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing team had to learn.

"I think across the board we were all disappointed last year at our results," Stenhouse said. "I definitely wasn’t disappointed in the effort that our guys put in last year; they put a ton of effort in, we just didn’t see those results. But I think we looked at what we needed to look at, saw what we needed to improve, and I think we’re working really hard this offseason, the guys are really pumped up and I think our work’s gonna pay off sooner than later now."

The team’s hard work started showing results at the end of last season. Things began to change at Atlanta, where Stenhouse took home the Coors Light Pole award. A week later, Stenhouse notched his first top-10 of the season at Richmond, the final race of the regular season. The following week, he had an eighth-place finish at Chicagoland, the first race of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

Something was starting to click. The rhythm the group had found carried them to a third-place finish at Talladega Superspeedway. The crew was more consistently giving its driver a setup he was comfortable in, and the results were starting to show. Yet there was one comfort Stenhouse was without last season: His championship-winning Nationwide Series crew chief, Mike Kelley — though Kelley was never far from Stenhouse’s ear.

"I don’t think — from the time that we started running together in Nationwide in 2010 — I don’t think there’s been a day that we haven’t talked," Stenhouse said. "Even last year, I talked to him every single day, we texted every day, after every race we would call each other. If him and Trevor (Bayne) had a bad race, he’d call me; if I had a bad race, I’d call him. We never lost that chemistry that we had."

When it came time to reflect on the season and consider improvements, bringing Kelley up from Trevor Bayne‘s No. 6 Nationwide Series entry was a frequent offseason topic of conversation.

"What we try to do at the end of the year is sit down and look at what would be the best situation, and we started with the drivers and worked through the crew chiefs and on to the crew members and tried to understand what they were looking for," said Robbie Reiser, the general manager for Roush Fenway Racing. "It’s no different than if you have a Peyton Manning and you’ve got to build a team around him. It’s the same situation when it comes to the driver.

"So we sat down as a group and looked at what made him the most comfortable, what would build a team that they felt they could go out and win with, and Mike’s name kept coming up, and we just decided to make that change."

That chemistry — something Stenhouse mentions frequently when discussing Kelley — is clearly important to the driver. If chemistry is truly what Stenhouse needs to see numbers like his Nationwide Series runs, there should be no question that the 2013 Sunoco Rookie of the Year can have a sophomore breakthrough.

"Having Mike back on the pit box is going to be huge," he said. "You know, that chemistry that we have, that we had in the Nationwide Series, is tough to match, and so him and I are having a lot of fun this offseason, the guys are having fun. And that’s what teams are all about. Just cause you have the best mechanics on a team doesn’t mean you’re going to have the best team, you’ve still got to have that chemistry, and I think we have that this year — and that’s exactly what I felt like we were missing last year."

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March 2 event to be called The Profit on CNBC 500 presented by Small Business Fueling America

CNBC’s television show "The Profit" has partnered with Phoenix International Raceway to secure naming rights for the track’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race in March.

The March 2 event will be called The Profit on CNBC 500 presented by Small Business Fueling America, with the green flag scheduled to drop at 3 p.m. ET. The announcement came Friday on CNBC via PIR President Bryan Sperber, "The Profit" star Marcus Lemonis and NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Steve Phelps.

"We are excited to partner with Marcus and his team at ‘The Profit’ and CNBC on our NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race next month," Sperber said in a track release. "Small businesses have been fueling NASCAR from its very beginning, so this partnership is a great match."

"The Profit" television show has Lemonis hunting for struggling businesses, in which he invests his own money to turn the company around. The program also served as the primary sponsor for a NASCAR Nationwide Series race in 2013 at New Hampshire and presented the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Eldora Speedway.

"This unique partnership is a great opportunity to draw attention to small business which is the heart and soul of the American economy," Lemonis said. "We are proud to be a race sponsor and what better way to celebrate the launch of a new season of ‘The Profit’ than with passionate NASCAR fans."

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Accell Construction to serve as primary sponsor for No. 7 car in six races

Accell Construction will serve as the primary sponsor for six races with NASCAR Sprint Cup Series rookie Michael Annett.

Annett will drive the No. 7 Chevrolet SS this season for Tommy Baldwin Racing this season. The Oklahoma-based company will be the primary sponsor for both races at Phoenix International Raceway, Texas Motor Speedway and Kansas Speedway in 2014.

"I’m looking forward to having Accell come on board the No. 7 car this season," Annett said in a release. "Their support is a key element in bringing forward momentum to TBR."

This is Accell Construction’s fourth season in a partnership with Tommy Baldwin Racing.

Earlier this week, Tommy Baldwin Racing announced that Reed Sorenson would drive the No. 36 car in the Sprint Cup Series with Todd Parrott serving as the team’s crew chief.

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Both drivers to compete part-time in Truck Series, full-time in K&N Pro Series East

NTS Motorsports announced Friday morning that NASCAR Next driver Gray Gaulding will take the wheel for eight NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races this season.

The Colonial Heights, Va., native — who turns 16 Monday — will get his first experience in NASCAR national series competition in the No. 20 Chevrolet. Gaulding will be allowed to compete on oval tracks measuring one mile or shorter, plus road courses, until he turns 18 years old.

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The team also announced that Brennan Newberry, who finished 19th in the standings after competing in all but one Truck Series race last season, will embark on a 12-race truck schedule in the team’s No. 24 Chevrolet this year. He’ll pair with Gaulding in a two-car effort from NTS full-time in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East.

Former Daytona truck race winner John King will drive the No. 20 in the season-opening NextEra EnergyResources 250. The drivers for the remaining races for both trucks will be announced at a later date. Four-time series champion Ron Hornaday Jr., who competed full-time for NTS Motorsports last season, was not mentioned in the team’s plans.

Gaulding finished seventh in the K&N Pro Series East standings last season, recording eight top-10s in 14 races and snaring his first pole position in April at Richmond International Raceway, setting a series youth record. He closed the season by prevailing in the K&N Pro Series West finale at Phoenix International Raceway in November, bumping past race-long dominator Cole Custer in the final lap to become the series’ youngest winner at 15 years, 8 months and 30 days.

Newberry won the Keystone Light Pole Award for the season-opener last year at Daytona, but collected just one top-10 finish — a 10th at Pocono Raceway. He missed the series’ event at Chicagoland Speedway with a stomach ailment; former series champ Austin Dillon filled in and drove the No. 24 to its best finish of the season, seventh place.

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JR Motorsports driver looks to contend for Nationwide title, earn a Sunday spot

In looking back at the 2013 season, Regan Smith knows where things went wrong, where the once-commanding 58-point lead in the NASCAR Nationwide Series standings fizzled. He also knows where the pressure to regain the advantage took its toll on driver and team alike. 

One year later and one year wiser, Smith has distinct, direct goals on his to-do list — not the least of which is a return to NASCAR’s premier division.

"I would say this year is about two things for me — it’s about winning the championship and proving to the right owner that I need to be back racing on Sundays," Smith said. "That’s as brutally honest as I can put it. That’s what the goals are. I’d want to be back there tomorrow if I could. With that said, I’m focused on what the goals are in the Nationwide Series this year and winning the championship for JR Motorsports, but I’ve got goals long-term as a driver as well and I’d like to see those through."

For the short-term, Smith is back for his second season at the wheel of the JRM No. 7, eager to bolster his credentials in NASCAR’s second-tier series. He returns with much the same crew and equipment, plus a new crew chief in Ryan Pemberton, whom he was paired with briefly in 2007.

Smith also returns with a point to prove. After he parted ways with Furniture Row Racing during the 2012 season, the 30-year-old New York native found refuge with Dale Earnhardt Jr.‘s team, winning that year’s finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway and establishing himself as a title contender with a full-time Nationwide campaign ahead. 

Smith held the championship lead from early May to mid-July, grabbing the initial lead with a wild, photo-finish win at Talladega Superspeedway. He pushed the margin to a high mark of 58 points with his second victory of the season, in June at Michigan International Speedway. From there, the foundation unraveled — Smith collected just four top-five finishes in the final 20 races of the season, eventually fading to a distant third in the standings, 72 points back of series champion Austin Dillon. 

Instead of bearing down and staying the course when the lead shrank, Smith said the situation spiraled.

"When you look back on it, in hindsight we kind of did things desperate too early in the year," Smith said. "I think as a team, we learned a lesson there. As a driver, I know I did. I started doing stuff a little bit differently and maybe pressing a little too hard at times and making mistakes that I hadn’t made early on in the season. That kind of continued on. There was enough blame for it to go around. We all had a hand in it. There were 10 of us on our team and we all could’ve done stuff better, myself included, and at the end of the day, we didn’t.

"You’ve got to learn from those lessons and you’ve got to make sure you use them the following year and do better." 

Another helping hand comes from the offseason addition of rookie teammate Chase Elliott, who brings stability to the JR Motorsports lineup. A patchwork of seven drivers shared seat time for the team’s second car over 33 races last year; this season, Smith will turn to a familiar face for feedback on a given race weekend. 

"It was obviously a lot of very talented guys, but week in and week out, you had different personalities, you had different feels in the race car out of different drivers," Smith said of his 2013 cast of teammates. "Toward the end of the year, we got a little consistency with Brad (Sweet) being in it more often, but with that said, we’re going to have a teammate that’s running the whole year that we know if we go one direction in practice and they go another direction, we can look at what they did or vice versa … and ultimately I’ll end up back at a point that’s, ‘this is going to work.’ 

"That’s going to take a little bit of the stress off of being a one-car team, which is what it kind of felt like at times, and it’s going to give us more opportunity to dabble with stuff a little." 

One uncertainty that Smith hasn’t quite figured out is what to do with himself after the season-opening Drive4COPD 300 on Feb. 22. Barring a last-minute deal for The Great American Race, Smith will miss the Daytona 500 for the first time since 2007. "Am I just going to drive home? Am I going to stay down there?’" Smith wondered out loud. "I don’t know what I’m going to do." 

If one of his Nationwide Series goals is met this year, that may not be an issue come 2015.

"Confidence is sky-high," Smith said. "We’ve got the same cars, the same key people — if anything, faster cars because we’ve learned a lot since this time last year, so I think from that standpoint, I go into the season as confident as ever and as motivated as ever."

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The March 2014 pilgrimage to the Last Great Colosseum just became more affordable for season ticket holders as Bristol Motor Speedway and Food City announce a five-year partnership extension and unveil the new “Fuel for Fans” program.

The program loads two Food City Gas-N-Go Fuel Bucks stops on the iBelong Membership card/Food City ValuCard of every iBelong member and BMS season ticket holder, good for 15 cents off each gallon of gas up to 20 gallons at all Food City Gas-N-Go locations.

Additionally, Food City is offering a third discounted fill-up to iBelong members who spend more than $15 at one of their stores prior to March 16.

 “This latest extension takes the partnership between Food City and Bristol Motor Speedway beyond the 25-year mark, and when a relationship lasts that long you begin to view each other as more than business associates. You become friends and family,” said BMS General Manager Jerry Caldwell.

 “We also view our season ticket holders as members of the BMS family as well and are committed to elevating their visit any way we can. They remain dedicated, even through recent economic challenges, and this is one way we, along with our partners at Food City, can express our appreciation.”

Food City officials also see the program as a means of honoring BMS fans for their continued loyalty.

“We are pleased to announce the extension of our relationship with Bristol Motor Speedway and offer the Fuel for Fans program as a way to thank those who have faithfully supported this longtime partnership,” said Steve Smith, president and CEO of K-VAT. “It is the mission of Food City to provide value to our customers as they shop for the staples of everyday life, and this program allows us to extend that value to those who support us both in our stores and at the Speedway.”

Tickets to experience a full season of battles inside the Last Great Colosseum tickets start at just $160 and offer ticket holders more than $300 in savings. For information on the Fuel for Fans program and how you can belong to the BMS family, visit www.bristolmotorspeedway.com or call (855) 580-5525.

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Meet Sorcrachi (a.k.a. Patrick)

Name:  Sorcrachi (a.k.a. Patrick)

Current City: Tucson, Ariz.

Hometown:  I was born in Detroit, Mich., but I grew up mostly in Tucson, Ariz. I spent a year in California when I was 15.

Member since: 2008

Getting to know patrick

 

Q. Why did you join the Official NASCAR Fan Council?

A: “I thought it would be a great opportunity to let my voice be heard. I was blown away when I got the invitation, to be honest.”

 

Q. What comes to mind when you think of NASCAR? What’s your favorite NASCAR memory?

A: “Watching races with the ones I love. When I was very young I’d watch the races with my Dad and my brothers. When I was a teenager I’d watch with my best friends. Now I GO to the races with my wife and friends. Life is good.”

 

Q: Do you have a favorite in any of the following categories?

A.    Driver: “Carl Edwards.  Even though I kinda hate him.”

A.    Track: “Phoenix”

A.    Memorabilia: “I took a picture of a Kodak camera guy taking a picture of another Kodak camera guy who was taking a picture of Stealing Angels. I used an Pentax camera, so I think that broke the curse.”

 

Q: If you could go to any NASCAR race/track, where would you go?

A: Martinsville

 

Q: Tell us about your family. Do you have children and/or pets?

A: “I have been married to my wife, Kathy, for 25 years.  We can’t have kids. We do have 37 nieces and nephews, so we get to play with them.  We have a lot of pets. We take in strays and find them homes. We bred AKC Siberian Huskies for a long time, but we had a change of direction back in the ’90s. Now we only have rescued dogs: Midnight, Domino, Digger and George. We also have three cats and three turtles.

 

Q: What do you like to do in your free time?

A: “I spend a lot of time on the computer. I also hang out and drink a few beers with my friends. I sometimes play the guitar. I’m not good, but I’m not awful. Nobody has ever smashed a guitar on my head, anyway.”

 

Q: What’s your dream car?

A: “I think it would be great to drive a really cherry Hudson Hornet. One with the straight-six Hemi. Especially with the fender skirts on.”

 

From all of us at nascar, we thank patrick for his continued support and look forward to hearing from him in 2014!

 

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Sophomore season could continue with team, pending sponsorship

Jeb Burton found a ride for Daytona — with the team that currently owns the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship.

ThorSport Racing announced Thursday that it signed the 21-year-old driver to a deal for Speedweeks, in which Burton would compete in the Truck Series opener at Daytona International Speedway in a No. 13 entry. The son of former Daytona 500 winner Ward Burton will also drive a car for ThorSport in the ARCA race on the 2.5-mile track.

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Any additional races for Burton with ThorSport were yet to be determined, and would hinge partly on sponsorship. The rising star on the Truck Series lost his No. 4 ride at Turner Scott Motorsports last week, after that program was shut down because its former primary sponsor defaulted on payment.

Based in Sandusky, Ohio, ThorSport has enjoyed a long and successful run in the Truck Series that culminated last season, when Matt Crafton won the organization’s first championship and teammate Johnny Sauter won three races to finish fourth in the standings. The team also won the 2013 ARCA crown with Frank Kimmel.

"The opportunity to come to ThorSport is a big deal for me, my career and my family," Burton said in a statement released by the team. "It’s an honor to me that (owners) Duke and Rhonda Thorson would make the call to put me in their vehicles — the best there is in both series. Mr. Thorson has proven his commitment to the Truck Series — he’s a racer, that’s what it’s all about and it feels good to be here. I feel like it’s a place where I can race, and win for many years."

Burton won one race and seven poles last season, his first full campaign on the Truck Series. The Virginia native completed 99.4 percent of the laps he attempted, and finished fifth in the final standings — one spot behind his new teammate Sauter. He also finished eighth in his Nationwide Series debut.

"I can’t tell you how great it is to get this deal done in a very short amount of time," ThorSport team manager David Pepper said. "This gives us a great driver that can win both the Truck and ARCA races over the next couple weeks. We’ve had our eyes on Jeb the last few years and one thing that really stands out is how well he gets along with Matt and Johnny and the respect they have for each other. To have the opportunity to get Jeb into our ThorSport family of drivers is a great move for both parties."

Last week, Burton said he and his family were "devastated" by the shutdown of his No. 4 team at Turner Scott, which shaped up as a prime contender for the championship. He and his father Ward spent the ensuing days working the phone, trying to put a deal together. Burton’s No. 13 truck for Daytona will be backed by Carolina Nut Company, and ThorSport hopes to find funding to field him in additional events.

"Having Jeb join the ThorSport family, without question, gives us the strongest driver lineup in the Camping World Truck Series and a talented young man that gives us an opportunity to win another championship," said Matt LaNeve, ThorSport vice president of corporate partnerships. "We are actively seeking sponsorship and feel like his team and our organization have a lot of value to any potential partner."

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