Jeff Burton
No. 31 Cingular Wireless Chevrolet
Event Preview Fact Sheet
Event/Date: Pepsi 400 – July 1, 2006
Venue: Daytona International Speedway – Daytona Beach, Fla
NOTES:
This Week’s Race Car at Daytona International Speedway … Jeff Burton will race chassis No. 159 from the Richard Childress Racing (RCR) stable, a brand new car which was tested at Daytona International Speedway during pre-season testing in January.
Former Winner, Stat Facts … Burton is the 2006 Daytona 500 pole winner and a former winner at the famed Daytona International Speedway. He claimed victory under the lights in the 2000 Pepsi 400. In 23 starts at Daytona International Raceway, Burton has posted one win, five top-five and seven top – 10 finishes
Stepping Up … Burton’s seventh-place finish at Infineon Raceway was Team Cingular’s 10th top-10 finish of the 2006 season and moved the South Boston, Va., native up to sixth in the NASCAR Cup point standings, just 71 points out of the top five. In the 10 races since Martinsville in April when Burton sat 21st in points, he has posted two top-five and eight top-10 finishes.
Birthday Boy … Burton celebrates his 39th birthday Thursday, June 29.
RCR Rocks Daytona … Dating back to 1986, RCR has won seven poles, with the most recent being Burton’s 2006 Daytona 500 pole, and owns 22 total victories at DIS, including 10 straight (1990-1999) Twin 125 wins with Dale Earnhardt. All totaled, RCR has won five Bud Shootouts, 13 Twin 125 qualifying races, two Pepsi 400s and one Daytona 500. Additionally, Dale Earnhardt Jr., won the Feb. 2002 Busch Series race at Daytona driving a car fielded by RCR.
Burton’s Pay-Day Winner… Russell Tillson of Virginia Beach, Va., was selected as the winner of the “Win Jeff Burton’s Pay-Day” sweepstakes from more than one million entries submitted between February and June. The contest was part of Cingular’s Virtual Crew Chief program which aired during race telecasts on FOX and FX this year, prompting viewers to answer race-specific questions either online or via wireless text messaging with the results revealed on-air later in the race. As part of the grand prize, Tillson is guaranteed to win the same amount of money that Burton earns for his finish in the Pepsi 400. Tillson will travel to Daytona Beach for the Cup race and to cheer on Burton and Team Cingular.
Meet the Driver …. Burton will be signing autographs at the Cingular Wireless store located in front of the Volusia County Mall from 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. Friday, June 30. In addition, fans can win give-away items, courtesy of Cingular Wireless.
Catch the Action… The Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway can be seen live Saturday, July 1 beginning at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on FOX and heard live on the Motor Racing Network (MRN) and XM Satellite Radio. Qualifying for the 17th of 36 NASCAR Cup Series events will air live on SPEED Friday, June 30 at 4:30 p.m. EDT and will also be broadcast live on MRN and XM Satellite Radio.
JEFF BURTON QUOTES:
Your 2006 restrictor plate race results this season are a little bizarre -- you sat on the pole for the Daytona 500 and finished 32nd, then started 40th at Talladega and finished fourth. Is that just a circumstance of restrictor-plate racing?
“There really is no rhyme or reason to it … its more coincidence than anything else. We went to Talladega and had a huge weather change during qualifying and the last four cars were effected and all started in the back together. All of us were teams that normally qualify pretty well at superspeedways. We certainly thought we would qualify a lot better than that. The big thing about Team Cingular at Daytona is we did qualify really well by sitting on the pole but we didn’t handle quite as well as we needed to in the race. So, we are going back with a different car, a different package, a different set-up and different aero package in an effort to make the car drive better. This time around at Daytona it’s an impound race where for the 500 we could throw a lot of things at it for qualifying that we can’t do now. For Team Cingular, we are going down there focusing on the race and trying to make the car drive and handle well. We know if we do that it will give us our best chance at a good finish. The thing about Daytona is it follows Sears Point. Both races can have the opportunity of a major impact on the points for a lot of people in making the top 10. This is a big important race and the opportunity for multiple car wrecks is always looming at Daytona so you need to try to avoid that as much as possible.”
Is racing in Daytona in July like a night and day difference from the Daytona 500?
“It’s not as big of a difference as it used to be. Being that we do race at night in July it’s not that big of a difference. The track and the temperatures cool down. It is harder to get the car to handle in July than it is in February but it’s not night and day difference due to the fact we race and night and the temperatures are nearly as hot as they could be. It is an issue, much more so than a Talladega. Years ago when we came to Daytona in July we would race at 11 a.m. so the track was really slick. It’s still slick but not nearly as much as it used to be.”
Did the change to the bumper have any effect at Talladega?
“That bumper change didn’t do a thing at Talladega. What made a difference at Talladega was it brought the conversation up about bump drafting and NASCAR jumped in and said ‘we’ve made a change, now drivers it’s in your hands. If you don’t do the right thing with this then we will make you wish you had’. That is what made the difference. Bump drafting wasn’t as bad a Talladega. Now, when it got down to 10 laps to go it was bad again. The bumper is not one you can’t bump draft with or one you can’t use to give someone a shot. It’s just not but I don’t think it should be. I think that building bumpers to prevent us from bump drafting is just a silly answer to a problem that drivers can fix. If we’re not willing to fix it then NASCAR will make us wish we did. That will have far more impact than the bumpers.”
