JEFF BURTON QUOTES –
As we head to the legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway, what were your thoughts as we first went there and can you believe it’s been more than ten years since that first Brickyard race?
“I’m a huge race fan and to have the opportunity to see the race track, much less to actually drive on it, is really cool. The place is so unique in every way, unique in its history and in its shape. Indy just has a special feeling about it. It’s almost like traveling to a foreign country, everything is different. Indianapolis itself is a nice town, pretty normal, but when you roll through that tunnel it’s like going someplace different. They do everything different there, from the amount of people they have working at the racetrack to the processes and procedures they have, everything is different. It’s like going to another country.”

As a traditional place, it’s tough to change. Have you found over the course of time we’ve been at Indy that they have changed things to adapt to NASCAR Cup racing?
“I think we changed more to adapt to them than they changed to adapt to us. They have a way of doing things and are very consistent in the way they do things. I know the first time we went there, in the driver’s meeting the week before we went to Indy, NASCAR said ‘This is a totally different deal and you need to be patient. It’s different than what we do every week, but be patient and over time it will become normal’. It has…it has gotten normal for us. We changed for them. That’s okay, there is nothing wrong with it. The history and heritage they have at Indianapolis should stand. They should operate it the way it has always been operated because they’ve been successful doing so. It’s the most famous speedway in the world and we need to respect that.”

Indianapolis is a fast, flat race track. What is it like to qualify and race there?
“The interesting thing about qualifying and racing there is it’s pretty much the same groove. You have more grip in qualifying so you’re in the throttle much more. You are never all the way out of the throttle in turns two and four. You are in turns one and three but you’re back in the throttle very quickly. Indy is a very fast race track but it’s a fun racetrack. The thing that is most important about qualifying in Indy is going early. The way the qualifying is, we start in the morning and the hotter the track gets, the slicker it is, so going early is very important.”

Describe what some people call the ‘Tunnel Effect’, going down the front stretch, with the grandstands filled with fans.
“It happens on race day when all of the grandstands get full on the front straightaway. With all of those people, it is quite a feeling and very different than what we normally experience. We are very aware of the fans because they are on both sides of the track. Then on the back straightaway there’s nobody there. It’s totally different from front to back. The first few times we went there, it really did almost feel like you were in a tunnel, but today we’ve just gotten used to it. So now it’s not too big of a deal.”

Is Indianapolis a big momentum race track?
“Momentum is everything at Indy. It’s all about carrying speed through the middle of the corner so that you can be fast off the corner. Indy’s corners are different than any other we have in racing really, as far as the way we race. They’re shorter and there’s less corner. The track is perfectly smooth and you need really good grip to take advantage of that smoothness. If you are a little bit slow in the middle of the corner, it just carries that speed onto the exit of the corner. So, it’s very important to handle in all parts of the corners at Indy. You can’t just handle well getting in or getting off, it has to be good in all parts of the corners.”

How do you want to have your car set up in the beginning of the race to take advantage of that?
Indy is one of those places where you get a big aero push. It’s also one of those places, based on the shape of the track and lack of banking, where you can really mess people up by getting up right behind them to make them really loose. So, you have to have a car that turns well and is stable so that when people do get near you, they don’t mess you up. The key is turning well. If you turn well, then the car responds to the front wheels and you’ll run really well.”