Race 2 Win: Lenox Industrial Tools 300

Nextel Cup Series

Lenox Industrial Tools 300 - Jeff Burton Notes

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

Event/Date: LENOX Industrial Tools 300 – July 16, 2006
Venue: New Hampshire International Speedway – Loudon, N.H.

NOTES:

This Week’s Race Car New Hampshire International Speedway (NHIS) … Jeff Burton will pilot Chassis No. 175, a brand new race car from the Richard Childress Racing (RCR) stable.

Stat Facts … In 22 Cup starts at NHIS, Burton boasts four wins, seven top-five and nine top-10 finishes. Burton’s runner-up finish last week at Chicagoland vaulted the 39-year old driver to fourth in the NASCAR Cup Series point championship, the highest he has been in points since March 2, 2003, when he was fourth following the race in Las Vegas.

Record Holder … Burton seems to know his way around NHIS. The South Boston, Va., native owns a few track records at NHIS, including most wins (four), most laps led by a race winner (300 – September 2000), least laps led by a race winner (two – July 1999) and track race record (Time 2:42:35, Speed 117.134 mph – July 1999)

From the Start … NHIS was the site of Burton’s first NASCAR Cup start on July 11, 1993.

ESPN fanatic … Prior to his arrival at New Hampshire International Speedway for the Lenox Industrial Tools 300 race weekend, Team Cingular driver Jeff Burton will spend Thursday, July 13 in Bristol, Conn. at the ESPN campus. The 17-time NASCAR Cup Series winner is scheduled for a day-long media tour of various ESPN programs including Mike and Mike in the Morning, Sportscenter, ESPNews, ESPN.com, Cold Pizza, ESPN Radio and EOE, ESPN’s in-house production company.

Testing, One, Two, Three, Testing … Burton and Team Cingular tested at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Monday, July 10 in preparation for next month’s Allstate 400 at The Brickyard. Testing will resume on Wednesday, July 12 after rain soaked the Indianapolis area on Tuesday. The test is the fifth of six allowed under NASCAR’s 2006 testing policy. The remaining test available to teams in NASCAR’s top division will be conducted at Homestead-Miami Speedway October 16-18.

Sellers Makes his Debut … RCR development driver Peyton Sellers will make his NASCAR Busch Series debut this weekend at Loudon driving Marsh Racing’s No. 31 Whelen Chevrolet. RCR provides engines and technical support to the Old Lyme, Conn., based team. On July 1, Sellers earned his first career NASCAR Grand National Division, AutoZone West Series victory at Douglas County Speedway in Roseburg, Ore. The Danville, Va., driver won the pole and led 125 of 150 laps. Sellers currently leads the division’s championship standings by 15 points over Mike David.

Up to Speed … The LENOX Industrial Tools 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway will be televised live Sunday, July 16 beginning at 1:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) on TNT and broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network (MRN) and XM Satellite Radio. Qualifying for the 19th of 36 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series events will take the green flag at 3 p.m. EDT Friday, July 14 and will be telecast live on SPEED.

JEFF BURTON QUOTES:
YOU'VE HAD A LOT OF SUCCESS IN NEW HAMPSHIRE. CAN YOU ASSESS YOUR CHANCES GOING THERE?
"I certainly have high hopes going there. I'm real comfortable with the race track. We worked pretty hard at a Richmond test and did not run well at Phoenix. We ran very well at Richmond. We've tried to step up our program and build even better cars for that kind of race track so I go into it optimistic."

HOW IMPORTANT WILL THAT RACE BE?
"Obviously as the races get closer to two or three to go before the last 10, we've got a tremendous amount of emphasis put on it. However, we can't forget that they pay the same amount of points for the third race of the year as they do for the 25th race of the year. So all the work that we've done up to this point is what matters and every race by itself matters a great deal. The emphasis will be starting to be put on these closing races but at the end of the day it's an accumulation of all the points you gained in the first 26 so it really doesn't make that race any more important than any other."

WHAT IS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE?
"The big challenge is the fact that the turns are so flat and the groove is half-a-lane off the bottom. The track has continued to gain grip through the years. It used to be real easy to spin the tires and we didn't have any rear grip but today it is actually pretty good with rear grip. Getting the car to turn is your biggest battle in New Hampshire where it used to be getting the rear wheels to hook up. Today it's getting it to turn. A good turning car could run really well there."