National freight transportation provider in NASCAR as primary sponsor
SANDUSKY, Ohio (May 27, 2014) — Estes Express Lines today announced that it will serve as primary sponsor for ThorSport Racing’s No. 13 Toyota Tundra driven by Jeb Burton for the balance of the 2014 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season, beginning with Friday’s Lucas Oil 200 at Dover (Del.) International Speedway.
Estes’ president and CEO Rob Estes was the keynote speaker at an unveiling ceremony for the No. 13 Estes Toyota at the transportation company’s Richmond, Va., headquarters.
“To have Jeb driving the No. 13 Estes Toyota in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is a powerful combination and a perfect match for our company,” Estes said. “First, it’s safe to say that trucks — all trucks — are our passion.
“Second, it takes the effort of a large team of highly-skilled people at ThorSport Racing to make sure the No. 13 Tundra is prepared to race and to win, just like at Estes, where every member of our team is essential to the performance of the company as a whole.
“And finally, Jeb’s job is to cross the finish line first each race and to do so safely, without injury or damage. At Estes, our job is to finish that same way with our customers, with every shipment, whether it’s door-to-door or coast-to-coast, 40,000 times each day.”
Estes and other company leaders expressed widespread enthusiasm for their first motorsports program in the company’s 83-year history, anticipating the sponsorship will help Estes raise brand visibility to a national level, while aligning with stated company values of service, performance and family.
Burton, 21, is a second-generation stock-car racer whose father, Ward Burton won the 2002 Daytona 500 and whose uncle, Jeff Burton is a 21-race winner in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. With shared roots in the small towns of rural southern Virginia, the Estes and Burton families are distant relatives.
“It’s an honor to be driving the No. 13 Estes Toyota,” Jeb Burton said. “Each time I get behind the wheel, I’m not only representing the Burton family and ThorSport Racing, now I have the privilege of representing everyone at Estes, which means a team of almost 15,000 employees including more than 6,000 truck drivers.”
ThorSport Racing is in its 19th consecutive season of fielding teams in the Truck Series. Its fleet includes the No. 88 Menards Toyota driven by defending NCWTS drivers’ champion Matt Crafton and the No. 98 Nextant Aerospace/Curb Records Toyota driven by Johnny Sauter.
In 2013 ThorSport also won drivers’ and owners’ championships in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards with its No. 44 Ansell/Menards Toyota Camry.
The relationship between Estes and ThorSport Racing came as the result of a business growth opportunity shared among the freight provider and ThorWorks Industries, a conglomerate of diverse businesses including ThorSport Racing based in Sandusky and owned by Duke and Rhonda Thorson.
“Everyone at ThorSport Racing has a lot of faith in Jeb as an up-and-coming driver and we’re happy to have found a company with Estes’ professional legacy and values to sponsor our program,” Duke Thorson said. “We’d like to thank everyone at Estes for their support and confidence as this relationship moves forward.
“We’re proud to be the team Estes chose for its NASCAR debut. We can’t wait to see Jeb and the No. 13 Estes Tundra on the track at Dover this weekend and throughout a safe and successful 2014 season.”
ABOUT ESTES EXPRESS LINES:
Headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, Estes is a leading, full-service freight transportation provider offering a complete range of shipping solutions including LTL, time critical, volume & truckload, global and custom solutions. Founded in 1931 by W.W. Estes and still owned by the Estes family, today’s Estes is the largest, privately-held LTL carrier in the nation. With more than 210 terminals across the country and a global service footprint, Estes has grown into one of the most respected total-solutions providers in the industry.
ABOUT THORSPORT RACING:
ThorSport Racing, based in a state-of-the-art 100,000-square-foot facility in Sandusky, Ohio, is the longest-tenured NASCAR Camping World Truck Series team. ThorSport, which has run in the Truck Series since 1996, in 2014 runs the No. 88 Menards Toyota Tundra driven by 2013 drivers’ champion Matt Crafton, the No. 98 Nextant Aerospace/Smokey Mountain Herbal Snuff/Carolina Nut Co./Curb Records Toyota Tundra driven by Johnny Sauter and the No. 13 Estes Toyota Tundra driven by Jeb Burton in the Truck Series.
ABOUT JEB BURTON:
The 21-year-old native of Halifax, Virginia, burst on the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series scene in 2013 with a league-best seven pole positions — including his first in his seventh career start — and his first career victory in only his 12th career start. The second-generation stock-car phenom, the son of 2002 Daytona 500 champion Ward Burton and nephew to 21-time NASCAR Winston Cup winner Jeff Burton, had only 27 career Truck Series starts when he made his ThorSport Racing debut at Daytona in 2014. But he’s quickly proven his top-five finish in the 2013 championship, as a member of the “NASCAR Next” program, a designation that highlights rising stars with the potential to reach the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, was hardly a fluke.
