Jeff Burton
No. 31 AT&T Chevrolet
Event Preview Fact Sheet
Event/Date: Pep Boys Auto 500 – October 28, 2007
Venue: Atlanta Motor Speedway – Hampton, Ga.
NOTES:
This Week’s AT&T Chevrolet at Atlanta Motor Speedway … Jeff Burton will race Chassis No. 175 from the Richard Childress Racing (RCR) stable. Built new for 2006, this is the same AT&T Chevrolet Burton raced last season at New Hampshire International Speedway (st. second, fn. seventh) in July, Richmond International Speedway (st. second, fn. ninth) in September, Martinsville Speedway (st. 28th, fn. 42nd) in October and Phoenix International Raceway (st. 18th, fn. 10th) in November. Additionally, this chassis tested at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in January as part of a NASCAR-sanctioned test session.
Burton in the Loop …
Stat Facts … In 26 Cup Series starts at Atlanta Motor Speedway (AMS), Burton owns six top-five and 11 top-10 finishes.
The Atlanta Report … According to NASCAR’s loop data statistics, Burton is the sixth-best driver in Average Running Position category. His average running position of 10.848 at the 1.54-mile oval is the sum of the driver position on each lap divided by the number of laps run in the race. Additionally, the 19-time Cup Series winner is the series sixth-best quality passer. Since the inception of loop data statistics in 2005, Burton has made 165 passes while running in the top-15 under green-flag conditions.
Points Check … Burton’s 12th-place finish at Martinsville Speedway advanced the NASCAR Cup Series Chase contender one spot to ninth in the point standings. The 19-time Cup Series winner is 409 markers out of the lead and just 124 behind Carl Edwards’ fifth-place tally.
RCR at the ATL … In 96 races at AMS, RCR has earned four poles and nine wins including Kevin Harvick’s emotional victory in the Cracker Barrel 500 on March 11, 2001. Prior to that, Dale Earnhardt won eight times at the ultra-fast Hampton, Ga., track. Additionally, RCR boasts 24 top-five and 40 top-10 finishes at AMS. Childress, a former driver on NASCAR’s senior circuit, recorded his best finish at Atlanta with a ninth-place effort in the Atlanta Journal 500 on Nov. 2, 1980.
Staying After School … Burton and the AT&T Racing team will stay in Atlanta on Monday and Tuesday following the Pep Boys Auto 500 to participate in the final NASCAR Cup Series test of the year. The Atlanta test replaces the two-day Car of Tomorrow (COT) test that was originally scheduled for May 14-15 at Dover International Speedway.
Up Close and Personal … The No. 31 team will be one of five teams featured this weekend on DIRECTV’S NASCAR HOTPASS. With a channel dedicated solely to the AT&T Racing team during the running of the Pep Boys Auto 500, fans will be able to watch all the action through DIRECTV’s multiple camera angles, real-time car telemetry and listen to in-car audio communication.
Catch the Action … The Pep Boys Auto 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway will be televised live Sunday, October 28 beginning at 1 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) on NBC and will broadcast worldwide on the Performance Racing Network (PRN) and Sirius Satellite Radio. Qualifying for the 33rd points-paying race on the 2007 NASCAR Cup Series schedule will be televised live on ESPN2 Friday, October 26 at 7 p.m. EDT. PRN and Sirius Satellite Radio will provide qualifying updates live.
JEFF BURTON QUOTES:
Are you looking forward to going back to Atlanta?
“Atlanta is one of my favorite race tracks. It’s so much fun to race at Atlanta. It’s a track with two different personalities. It has a qualifying personality and a race personality. The racing personality is really slick. You can run on the bottom, up by the wall or in the middle of the track. It’s an extremely fast race track but in race trim you lose so much handling that it doesn’t feel that fast. In qualifying it’s really fast and it feels that way.”
What is the team’s approach to the remaining races in The Chase?
“We’ll continue to go to the last few races with the same approach we have had all year. We don’t come to each track worrying about a championship; we focus on each race. All that we can do as a team is our very best and if we do that, the points up will add up. We can’t control the other teams or worry about what the other teams are doing. We have to focus on what we are doing and do a good job. If we do that, then we’ll be able to battle back and move up in the standings.”
