RPM Cuts Burton's Schedule, Citing Missed Sponsor Payments

Richard Petty Motorsports has suspended operations of its No. 43 XFINITY team due to financial issues with the team's primary sponsor, J. Streicher. Due to missed payments, the team announced today that it will cut back the NASCAR XFINTY Series No. 43 Ford Mustang driven by Jeb Burton from what was originally expected to be a full-time schedule. 

J. Streicher is in its first year of sponsorship in NASCAR, after signing on just prior to the season-opening event at Daytona International Speedway. The team has recorded one Top-10 and four Top-15 finishes in the first 10 races of 2016 and is currently in position to compete for the Chase in the NASCAR XFINITY Series. 

Richard Petty Motorsports CEO Brian Moffitt called the move, “an unfortunate situation," adding, "we make commitments to both our employees and vendors that are based on sponsor commitments, and we take those commitments seriously. We will pursue every avenue to ensure the contractual obligations between RPM and our sponsor are met. We'll take each week as it comes and do our best to get the No. 43 Ford Mustang on track as much as possible this season." 

Richard Petty Motorsports and Burton will continue their relationship, and the team said it hopes to get Burton on track as much as possible this season. This weekend at Pocono Raceway, Burton will compete in the No. 32 Sprint Cup Series Ford for GO FAS Racing.