Burton Finishes 10th at NAPA 500, Locks Down 10th Place in Points Race

Atlanta - Jeff Burton used a fast ride and excellent pit crew work to drive the CITGO SUPERGARD Motor Oil Ford Taurus to a 10th-place finish at the NAPA Auto Parts 500 in Atlanta. The finish marked the 15th top-10 Winston Cup finish for Burton and the CITGO SUPERGARD racing team this season and assured Burton of a top-10 finish in the driver's point race and a trip to the NASCAR Banquet in New York.

"It was a great run," said crew chief Frank Stoddard. "I'm certainly happy that we are going to be able to finish in the top 10 this season. Considering where we came from in the Spring - when we were here at this track the first time this season - to come back and finish in the top 10, I am certainly happy about that."

The CITGO SUPERGARD Ford got off to a fast start, moving into the field's top 25 by lap 11, after starting 34th on the poll. Burton moved the car all the way into 19th position by the 74th lap.

With the car becoming tight in the middle and loose off the corners, Burton took his second pit stop of the afternoon after a caution on lap 108, by changing four tires and applying air pressure and wedge adjustments. The CITGO SUPERGARD race team entered pit road 21st and used a 13:92 stop to return to the track in 17th place.

With the adjustments paying dividends, the CITGO SUPERGARD Ford was able to maneuver through the field climbing all the way to 10th place by the 171st lap and leading the field for three laps (178, 179, 180) before pitting under green-flag conditions on the 182nd lap to take on fuel and change four tires.

Burton returned to the field in 13th place but the CITGO SUPERGARD Ford had trouble picking up speed on the new set of tires, falling from 13th to 15th place on lap 212, however the car began to pick up speed by lap 237 and climbed back into 12th place on the 247th lap.

Burton lost eight spots after a caution came out on lap 262 just after the CITGO SUPERGARD Ford had entered pit road for a green-flap stop, however he was able to beat the lead car around and pit on the next lap, but was forced to move to the back of the lead lap after being penalized for speeding on pit road.

Starting back in 20th place on lap 268, Burton was able to work his way into 17th place with 30 laps to go in the race and into 14th place with 15 laps left to run. The CITGO SUPERGARD Ford would gain another five places in the race's final 15 laps and move on to the 10th place finish, the second-best finish by a Ford in the race.

"We had a good car," added Stoddard, "but we had a really hard time competing with the Dodges and Chevys. It's starting to become really frustrating to come to the track and work this hard every week to compete for 10th or 11th place, but I guess if you look at the Fords in the race we finished second."

The CITGO SUPERGARD pit crew had an excellent day in the pits, posting stops of 14:18, 14:25, 14:67 and an impressive 13:92.