Photo Credit: Noel Lanier
JGL Racing has added yet another talented young driver to its fleet in their Young Guns Program with Jeb Burton, son of 2002 Daytona 500 winner Ward Burton.
The James Whitener-owned team announced on Friday that Burton has signed a multi-race deal to pilot the No. 24 Toyota beginning with Texas Motor Speedway, the same track he scored his only NASCAR Camping World Truck Series win at.
“I’m really excited to get back behind the wheel in the XFINITY Series with JGL Racing and the No. 24 Toyota,” said Burton. “I’m grateful for the opportunity and am looking forward to working with James (Whitener) and the whole JGL group. We’re going to work hard this season to continue building this program and get the No. 24 Toyota up front.”
Burton planned on running the entire XFINITY Series schedule in 2016 for Richard Petty Motorsports until sponsorship issues derailed his plans just a quarter of the way through the season.
Whitener adds Burton to the list of drivers of the No. 24 that already includes hotshoes Corey LaJoie, Drew Herring and Scott Lagasse, Jr., who will pilot the car at Daytona International Speedway to open the season.
“We continue with the growth and development of our Young Guns program and having Jeb join us is a great addition,” Whitener said. “Jeb has proven to be a great young talent in this sport and we look forward to him being behind the wheel of our No. 24 Toyota.”
Burton currently has six races marked on the schedule with more possible.
You mentioned hots shots like Corey LaJoie, after what LaJoie did to Reed Sorenson in the 150 duels, tell it like it is LaJoie doesn’t deserve another chance in racing. He deliberately took out Sorenson to make the race, and could have killed him. LaDirty is a rookie that should not be racing in this years Daytona 500! He’s no hot shot. And I hope young racers understand that there’s more to life than racing!
While it wasn’t the best way to make the Daytona 500, that doesn’t mean LaJoie isn’t talented. I would’ve liked to see him actually race in, but LaJoie has a ton of talent. It was, however, an unfortunate situation with Sorenson that should not have happened.