Race 2 Win: Pennsylvania 500 - Jeff Burton Notes

Nextel Cup Series

News and Results | Point Standings | 2005 Schedule | 2005 Teams | 2004 Schedule and Results

Pennsylvania 500 - Jeff Burton Notes

Jeff Burton
No. 31 Cingular Wireless Chevrolet
Event Preview Fact Sheet

Event/Date: Pennsylvania 500 – July 24, 2005
Venue: Pocono Raceway – Pocono, Pa.

NOTES:

This Week’s Race Car at Pocono Raceway … Jeff Burton will race chassis No. 146 from the Richard Childress Racing (RCR) stable, a new race car for 2005 which was run earlier this season at Chicago (started 35th, finished 30th) and Pocono (started 22nd, finished 19th).

Stat Facts … In 23 starts at Pocono, Burton has posted six top-five and 11 top-10 finishes

Last race at Pocono … After starting 22nd, Burton battled a loose handling condition on the Cingular Chevrolet to finish 19th.

Leader Board … Burton has led a total of 70 laps at Pocono, at least one lap in 13 races.

Did you know at Pocono … Richard Childress owns two victories at Pocono (1987 & 1993) as a team owner. As a driver; Childress started and finished eight races at Pocono Raceway.

New TV Gig …Each Saturday for the remainder of the 2005 season, Jeff Burton will join host Steve Byrnes from the track on NASCAR Live! as they conduct interviews, profile the competition and handicap the weekend. Direct from each week's Nextel Cup venue, the SPEED Channel stage truck is powered up for informative and lively pre and post-race coverage of the weekend's activities. For additional information on the program or to find the location of the SPEED stage at the track, visit www.speedtv.com.

Up to Speed … The Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway will be televised live, Sunday, July 24 beginning at 1 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on TNT and be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network (MRN) and XM Satellite Radio. Qualifying for the 20th of 36 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series races is scheduled for Saturday, July 23 at noon and will be shown later that day on TNT beginning at 1:30 p.m. EDT.

JEFF BURTON QUOTES –
The series returns to Pocono after just being there in June, when some teams had tire problems. Do you make any adjustments to compensate for anything that happened there?
“Team Cingular didn’t have any tire issues there. We were pretty conservative on our left side tires. We may actually think about getting a little more aggressive because we saw no signs of problems. Goodyear seemed to think the drivers running over the curb in the tunnel turn was the problem. I think NASCAR and the race track have come in and made it so you can’t do that anymore with some changes they made to the race track. So, I hope we don’t have any problem and we probably won’t. I think that people learn their lessons in this sport pretty well. I think we’ll see people being much more conservative on the left front if they had problems in June.”

With a situation like that, are you looking over your shoulder at other teams having problems to see what they are doing and make sure you are headed that way or are you pretty much doing your own deal the entire time?
“When you have right front tire problems you’re pretty sure you know why that is. Camber and air pressure are really important on the right front. So you can be conservative when you know that there is a potential problem. The left-front problem at Pocono probably jumped up on everybody. Nobody knew we were going to have a problem. In that case everyone was watching, because we hardly ever have problems with the left-front tire. It baffled and confused everyone. Yes, we were watching and paying attention, but at the same time we didn’t really know what was causing the problem or how to prevent it, so it was difficult to deal with.”

When you went there in June, they had patched the race track. Now they have taken that up and repatched it and ground the curbs. How long will it take for you to pick up on something like that?
“It won’t take long. They patched the race track last time, but I swear they patched it in the wrong place. There was a huge bump, I mean, a hole in the race track and they patched it on the other side of the hole. They didn’t even fix the problem. So, hopefully this time, they got it fixed. When you put down new asphalt it makes it easier for the drivers. So, we’ll have to learn what you can do on the new asphalt versus what you couldn’t do on the old. But, it won’t make it harder, it will make it easier.”

In a case like that do you think the tracks don’t go to the best group of consultants they could, meaning the drivers? Or is it a case where if they spoke to 10 drivers they would get 10 different opinions?
“Well, that is a problem. In the race track’s defense, I think if you did talk to five drivers, you would get varying opinions. I think the race tracks would be best served if they would take five drivers in the garage that were well-rounded, that would think things through and actually ask them to be part of a group that could sit down with the track owners and answer what we could do to make the track better. Do we have any problems or issues?’ We know the tracks better than anybody else. We know it better than the architect. We know if better than the grader. We know it better than the owners. The owners know the grandstands and the access roads but they don’t know the racetrack. We could help them. In the case of Pocono, for years they have needed to get rid of all that grass on the back straightaway. They have got to do it, it continues to be a problem when cars get in that grass and hit that inside wall. There is no sense in it. That can easily be fixed, could have been 10 years ago and it still hasn’t been fixed. In cases like that every driver knows it would make it better but for some reason it doesn’t happen there. That’s when it gets frustrating, when you know that something simple could be done to make the track better, but the owner doesn’t make that change.
“In the case of whether or not the tracks should be paved, or problems with the track, I just think the drivers know a whole lot more than the owners. When Humpy (Wheeler) wanted to grind the surface at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, all the drivers were asking why. That is one of the best race tracks we have, why do that? He was trying to make side-by-side racing. But, if owners would consult with people who do it everyday, that are on the track all the time, I think they could get the answers a whole lot quicker.”

News and Results | Point Standings | 2005 Schedule | 2005 Teams | 2004 Schedule and Results