Jeff Burton
No. 31 Cingular Wireless Chevrolet
Event Preview Fact Sheet
Event/Date: Aaron’s 499 – April 30, 2006
Venue: Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway
NOTES:
This Week’s Race Car Talladega Superspeedway … Jeff Burton will race chassis No. 135 from the Richard Childress Racing (RCR) stable. Chassis No. 135 sat on the pole for the 2006 Daytona 500, then went on to finish the season opener in the 25th position following a late-race incident. It also raced in all four restrictor-plate races during the 2005 season, finishing 10th in the Aaron’s 499.
Stat Facts … In 24 Cup starts at Talladega, Burton claims one top-five and nine top-10 finishes.
Meet the Driver … Burton will sign autographs Thursday, April 27 from 4-6 p.m. at the Cingular Wireless store located at 220 State Farm Parkway, Birmingham, Ala.
Meet the Driver, Part Two … Burton will sign autographs at the Cingular souvenir trailer at Talladega Superspeedway on Saturday, April 29 from 9:15 – 10 a.m. A limited number of tickets are available and can be obtained at the souvenir trailer.
One Year Later … Team Cingular jackman Josh Yost will return to Talladega Superspeedway this weekend for the first time since he was hit on pit road during last season’s Aaron’s 499, severely injuring his right foot and ankle. Following multiple surgeries to repair damage to the tendons in his ankle, Yost started walking in mid-July, began physical therapy in August, returned to work in the shop at RCR in November and then resumed his role as Team Cingular jackman in the 2006 season opening Daytona 500.
Repaving the Way … Team owner Richard Childress will join officials from Talladega Superspeedway on Monday, May 1 to kick off the repaving project at the 2.6-mile track. Childress competed as a driver in the track’s inaugural race and used winnings from that race weekend at Talladega to help start Richard Childress Racing (RCR). Fittingly, he now holds the record as the car owner with the most successful record at this track, with nine victories to his organization’s credit. A photo opportunity is available at 10 a.m. Track officials will have a film crew on hand to document the event and the footage will be available on NASCAR’s VNR next week.
RCR, Earnhardt and Chevy Lead the Way … Richard Childress has nine victories at Talladega Superspeedway, the most of all car owners. All were scored by Dale Earnhardt. Earnhardt still leads all drivers with 10 victories, 23 top-five and 27 top-10 finishes along with 1,377 laps lead in 44 career starts at Talladega. Chevrolet has won 20 out of the last 25 restrictor plate races in the NASCAR Cup Series, including 11 wins in the last 12 races at Talladega.
Up to Speed … The Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway will be televised live Sunday, April 30 beginning at 1:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on FOX and broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network (MRN) and XM Satellite Radio. Qualifying for the ninth of 36 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series events will take the green flag at 11:30 p.m. EST Saturday, April 29 and will be telecast live on SPEED.
JEFF BURTON QUOTES:
NASCAR has implemented a new rule on softening up the front bumpers on the cars as we are heading into Talladega. Do you like it or not?
“To be quite honest, I don’t really think they’ve done anything. If you really look at the new front bumpers that will be in the cars, they are really strong. I don’t think we’ve done anything but cause a lot of work without accomplishing anything. That’s my opinion. Maybe I’ll be proven wrong but when I look at it, I see an extremely strong front bumper. I don’t think it’s going to keep anybody from running into the back of the guy in front of him at all. When we go to Talladega, it’s almost a vacation for the drivers until Sunday. You go out and practice, but there’s not a lot you can do once you get to the track. Once Sunday comes though, business picks up and it’s a little bit of a crapshoot to miss the big wreck. There’s going to be a big wreck, you just have to hope you miss it.”
Some drivers say bump-drafting is out of control. Where do you fall on that?
I think bump-drafting is out of hand because drivers are doing it in the wrong places and at the wrong times. You can make the case that if you don’t make us do the right thing, then we’ll always do the wrong thing. I think what we need to do is make you wish you would’ve done the right thing. NASCAR has unfortunately been put in a box by the drivers to have to police the race more than ever before and I don’t like it. I think it puts NASCAR in a bad spot and I don’t want them to make a call on me when they don’t know everything that happened. Unfortunately, that is where we are. They are going to have to start doing more than putting a guy to the tail end of the longest line because that’s not a penalty at Talladega. They’re going to have to put him down two laps or something to ever get the point across. It’s in the driver’s hands. Drivers need to decide that we can do it the right way and it’s no problem or we can do it the wrong way and open up Pandora’s Box.”
How do you handle it then?
“Well, you can’t. If you try to handle it the way it used to be handled, you’ll get thrown out for a couple weeks. That’s the problem. In the past if you did something wrong, Jack Ingram would grab you and jerk you up off of your feet to let you know he wasn’t going to put up with it. But if you do that now, you’ll get penalized and fined points. The drivers can’t police themselves anymore. Any time someone retaliates they get penalized but if you wreck someone you hardly ever get penalized. It’s out of hand. NASCAR is going to have to step in and drop the hammer on some people.”
