Jeff Burton
No. 31 Cingular Wireless Chevrolet
Event Preview Fact Sheet
Event/Date: Sharpie 500 – March 26, 2006
Venue: Bristol Motor Speedway – Bristol, Tenn.
NOTES:
This Week’s Race Car Bristol Motor Speedway … Jeff Burton will pilot chassis No. 157 from the Richard Childress Racing (RCR) stable, a new race car for the 2006 season.
Stat Facts … In 24 NASCAR Cup starts at BMS, Burton has posted six top-five and nine top-10 finishes.
Strong Runs with RCR… In his three races at Bristol Motor Speedway since joining RCR, Burton has posted two top-five finishes. He finished fourth in the 2004 Sharpie 500 in just his second race after joining RCR, then followed that up with a second place finish last fall.
Speed Demon … Through the fourth race of the 2006 season Burton has posted an average start of 4.5. Last year at this point his average start was 25th.
RCR at Bristol … RCR has had it’s share of success at the high-banked half-mile oval of Bristol Motor Speedway. In 90 NASCAR Cup starts, RCR boasts eight wins – seven with Dale Earnhardt and one with Kevin Harvick – three poles, 22 top-five and 40 top-10 finishes. In addition, in 27 starts RCR Busch Series teams have claimed five wins, three poles, 13 top-five and 15 top-10 finishes.
Car of Tomorrow … Following the Food City 500, Jeff Burton and Team Cingular will participate in NASCAR’s Car of Tomorrow test schedule at Bristol Motor Speedway on Monday, March 27.
Up to Speed … The Food City 500 from Bristol Motor Speedway will take the green flag Sunday, March 26 at 2 p.m. EST and will be telecast live on FOX. The event will also be broadcast live on the Performance Racing Network (PRN) and XM Satellite Radio. Qualifying for the fifth of 36 races on the 2006 NASCAR Cup Series tour will air live on SPEED, PRN and XM Satellite Radio Friday, March 24 at 3:30 p.m. EST.
JEFF BURTON QUOTES:
Would Bristol be a good place for Team Cingular to pick up a win?
“Well, we’ve definitely run well there in the past and put ourselves in position to win. Hopefully we can pull it off. I’ve run second at Bristol and fourth at Bristol with this team. Every time we’ve been there we’ve been very competitive. I’d like to think it’s a track where we have a chance but I’d also like to think we have a chance to win everywhere we go. Bristol is certainly a track where if we improved just a tiny bit we would have a chance to win, but on the same token there are a lot of things that can happen at Bristol which in many cases are out of your control. Many things are in your control at Bristol but seem to get away from you from time to time. Things happen really quickly and avoiding the mayhem is important as anything.”
Does it take you awhile to get up to speed at Bristol, mentally?
“It takes me a couple runs. I don’t like going to Bristol in qualifying mode versus race mode, going in qualifying mode is very difficult to do. When you go in race mode you get more of a chance to get accustom and get into a rhythm. Bristol for me is very much a rhythm racetrack, especially in race pace.
“One of the reasons that Rusty has done so well there and Jeff Gordon has done well there is that those are pace kind of guys. They can run the same lap speed consistently. It really is a rhythm place and when you get into race mode that is so important. So to me, that’s the game, getting into your rhythm and figuring out what you can do and where you can do it. In qualifying trim, you really don’t get a chance to do that it’s just go blast out there and make it around there two laps the best way you can. It’s two different kind of race tracks really.
Are you conscious of who is out there and who to stay away from or to use extra caution near him?
“The thing about Bristol is you have to be cautiously aggressive. When there is something that opens up, you have to take it. When you start trying to make something happen is where you get into trouble. You set your pass up from the middle of the corner and off, but you have to understand that visibilities aren’t there. You have to give the guy the benefit of the doubt that he doesn’t know you are there. Then you just have to make sure that there is room for you. So, there is a lot of give and take that has to happen at Bristol. Especially on restarts, you get everybody in line and nobody wants to be in that outside line. People really protect that bottom position and you really have to give somebody a lot of respect.”
