12 Questions with Jeb Burton

Jeff Gluck | USA TODAY Sports

Our series of weekly NASCAR driver interviews continues with Jeb Burton, the son of 2002 Daytona 500 winner Ward Burton, who now drives for BK Racing in the Sprint Cup Series.

Q: If NASCAR allowed you to listen to music while you were racing, would you want to?

A: No. No way. I like to listen to music when I’m working out and stuff for sure, but you’re so focused on what you need to do while you’re racing. I'd like to, but it would probably be a distraction more than anything. I don’t know, that’s a weird one.

Q: Where did your first paycheck come from?

A: A transmission shop. I worked there from like 2011 through the beginning of 2013. When I got my full-time Truck ride, that’s when I stopped working there.

I was making $400 a week, working five days a week and I’d race my Late Model on the weekends. So I’d work there all day and then go to the shop and work on my Late Model at night. I still go to that transmission shop at least twice a month because my best friend works there.

Were you building transmissions? Are you sort of a transmissions expert now?

I wasn’t building them; I was taking them out of the vehicles and putting them back in. I wouldn’t say I’m an expert, but I can do it.

Q: Who is an autograph you got as a kid that seemed to be a big deal to you at the time?

A: (Slowly smiles, then chuckles) This is kind of hard to explain. It started when I got Dale (Earnhardt) Jr.’s autograph at Bristol one year. A fan gave me a hat for Junior to sign, and I think Junior was up there (in the motorhome) playing PlayStation 2 or something at the time. So I went in there and got him to sign it.

But when I took the hat back over to the fan, the guy gave me $80 for it. So I was like 10 years old and I go back to the motorhome and I’ve got this big wad of cash. I'm like, "I could make money doing this."

So every week, I started getting autographs and then I’d sell them to the fans. I’d get all the drivers to sign these books and go sell them to a fan for $30 or something. Eventually they stopped doing it though. Rusty Wallace and a couple other ones, they didn’t like the idea.

So they caught on to you after awhile?

Yeah. Because every week I’d have a new book! (Laughs)

Q: Where’s a place you’ve never been that you’d like to go visit?

A: Hawaii would be pretty cool. I’ve never been there before. I’ve been to Mexico and the Bahamas, but not Hawaii.

Q: Do people ever accuse you of being addicted to your phone?

A: Yes.

Are they right?

I think it’s more of a habit. Because now you’ve got Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram — you’ve got all these apps. And if you’re bored, you just sit there and stare at your phone.

I don’t think it’s a good thing, to tell you the truth. I think it’s too much social media going on in the world. I like it, but in a sense I think too much of it is bad.

I check it a lot though. You want to say things back when people say stuff, but you can’t do it. That’s something that’s hard for me. I just try to ignore it when things are negative.

Q: If a genie promised you a championship in exchange for never being able to do your favorite hobby again, would you accept that offer?

A: That sounds like I’d have to wish for it to get it. I’d rather go earn it. It’d be more memorable and you’d know all the hard work you put into winning those things. Plus, I’m not going to give up hunting.

Q: What’s your preferred method of dealing with an angry driver after a race? I know you got a kick out of Jimmie Johnson saying he got yelled at by your dad one time when he called after a wreck.

A: It depends on what I did. (Laughs) Usually I just try to go find them afterward right then. Or like Jimmie said, just give them a call.

I haven’t really had to do that very much because I haven’t pissed many people off. But when I have, I’ve just walked up after the race and talked to them or found them on the plane or gave them a call.

Q: Do you ever get mistaken for another driver or celebrity?

A: Yeah, I get called “Jeff Burton” and then I get called “Dale Jr.” I think it’s because of the beard.

We were sitting in Indy recently and my teammate Matt (DiBenedetto) was sitting beside me, and a fan came up to him and was like, “Brian! Brian, sign this!” He signed it and before he gave it back, he asked her, “Who do you think I am?” And she said, “Brian Vickers.” So we get mistaken for different people all the time.

Q: If you had a time machine and you could travel to any year and race, where would you go?

A: Probably 2005, when the economy was better. There were more rides opening and sponsors weren’t as hard to find. And I think you could make up a little bit more with driving the car because you weren’t relying on downforce as much as we are now.

Like at Kentucky (with the low-downforce package), that is by far the best race I’ve been in. You could actually drive the car and move around and nobody had grip. That was awesome. It made the little teams catch up to the big ones; they were still ahead, obviously, but it wasn’t 2 seconds off the pace at a mile-and-a-half, you know what I mean?

Q: Would you rather have the ability to fly or be invisible?

A: Probably fly, so everybody could see me flying. (Laughs)

Q: I’ve been asking each person to give me a question for the next interview. The last interview was with Kyle Busch, and he wanted to know: If you could go to any era and drive for any team owner and crew chief, who would you want to team up with?

A: Probably Chad Knaus at Hendrick Motorsports. That’s probably it. Hendrick is a big powerhouse and I think Chad is on it.

Q: And do you have a question I can ask the next driver?

A: How many times have you peed in the race car? I haven’t done it once.

Q: Finally, how did this interview go on a scale of 1-10?

A: I’d say about an 8.

Follow Gluck on Twitter @jeff_gluck

PHOTOS: Family ties in NASCAR