Sharpie 500 - Ward Burton Notes

Ward Burton will make his 346th NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series start when the green flag drops for the Sharpie 500 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway Saturday night.

BURTON ON BRISTOL."Well, it's a short-track and it's Bristol so, like always, you have to concentrate on being around at the end. The better you qualify, the easier that is, though nothing is ever easy at Bristol. We had problems in qualifying last time we were here and we need to make sure that doesn't happen again because it's hard to make up ground once you get behind at a track like this. You can be patient and pick your way through traffic, but it sure is easier if you don't start the race a half a lap down because you didn't get the qualifying lap you needed.

"This is a great race. Racing at night in Bristol is a one of a kind event. It's the hottest ticket in town and the track keeps adding seats and they're always full. People come from all over the country for this one and they always get to see a good show. When it comes right down to it, that's what NASCAR's all about. I think our NetZero Chevrolet should be pretty good this week. We ran it in Dover and ran into a little trouble, but the guys went to work to fix it and we think it will be even better than it was. Bill and all the guys have been working really hard for the past several weeks and it shows. We didn't run as well as we would have liked to in Michigan, but we think this weekend in Bristol should really be great for us. We've got a good car, and a good team and we want to prove it."

BRISTOL NOTES OF INTEREST