Jeff Burton
No. 31 AT&T Chevrolet
Event Preview Fact Sheet
Event/Date: Pepsi 400 – July 7, 2007
Venue: Daytona International Speedway – Daytona Beach, Fla.
NOTES:
This Week’s Race Car at Daytona International Speedway … Jeff Burton will race chassis No. 177 from the Richard Childress Racing (RCR) stable. Built new for 2007, this is the same car that Burton raced to a third-place finish at the season-opening Daytona 500 (started seventh).
Former Winner, Stat Facts … Burton is the 2006 Daytona 500 pole winner and a former winner at the famed Daytona International Speedway (DIS). He claimed victory under the lights in the 2000 Pepsi 400. In 27 starts at DIS, Burton has posted one win, six top-five and eight top-10 finishes.
Stepping It Up at Superspeedways … Since joining RCR in August 2004, Burton posted his best restrictor plate finish of third at the Daytona 500 earlier this season. In 10 superspeedway starts since joining the Welcome, N.C., based operation, the South Boston, Va., native owns two top-five and two top-10 finishes at Daytona and Talladega combined.
RCR Rocks Daytona … Dating back to 1986, RCR has won seven poles and owns 23 total victories at DIS, including Kevin Harvick’s dramatic win in the 2007 season-opening Daytona 500. Additionally, RCR won 10 straight (1990-1999) Twin 125s with Dale Earnhardt. All totaled, RCR has won five Bud Shootouts, 13 Twin 125 qualifying races, two Pepsi 400s and two Daytona 500s. Dale Earnhardt Jr. also won the February 2002 NASCAR Busch Series (NBS) race at Daytona driving a car fielded by RCR and Kevin Harvick won this year’s Busch Series opener at DIS in the AutoZone Chevrolet.
RCR-DEI Engine Debut … Earnhardt-Childress Racing Technologies will debut the new common engine package this weekend at Daytona International Speedway. All six RCR and Dale Earnhardt, Inc. (DEI) cars will run the new engine.
Back to Orange … After showcasing a LENOX Industrial Tools paint scheme last weekend at New Hampshire, Burton’s No. 31 Chevy will return to its traditional orange and blue AT&T paint scheme this weekend at Daytona.
Under the Lights in Daytona – Fan’s Victory of a Lifetime Heads to the Sunshine State … Prilosec OTC Victory of a Lifetime Sweepstakes winner Jim Farina of Pittsfield, Mass. continues his ultimate NASCAR Fan’s season at Daytona International Speedway’s Pepsi 400. Accompanied by his nephew, this will be Jim’s 12th race of his 20 race schedule with RCR’s No. 31 team. Leading up to the start of the race, Jim and his nephew will take part in the festivities located in the infield Fan Zone area.
Catch the Action… The Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway can be seen live Saturday, July 7 beginning at 6:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on TNT and heard live on the Motor Racing Network (MRN) and Sirius Satellite Radio. Qualifying for the 18th of 36 NASCAR Cup Series events will air live on SPEED Friday, July 6 beginning at 4 p.m. EDT and will also be broadcast live on MRN and Sirius Satellite Radio.
JEFF BURTON QUOTES:
You finished third earlier this season at Daytona. What are your expectations going into this weekend’s race?
“We had some things go our way in the (Daytona) 500. It got really wild late in the race and we were able to get through a couple of wrecks. That had a huge influence on how we finished. We know that this race is going to be tough. Getting the car to handle well is going to be hard but that is why we do what we do. We enjoy that challenge. If we get our car to drive well and can put on the bottom (groove) or in the middle, then we’ll run well. That’s what our focus in on.”
Your finishes in the 400-mile races are better than your finishes in the 500’s. Why is that?
“I can honestly tell you I don’t know why that is. In previous 500’s we haven’t had a whole lot of luck except for this past year. It seems like any time there was a wreck in any of the 500’s, we were somehow involved. This weekend’s race is our first opportunity to run a different engine package in conjunction with DEI and hopefully that is going to help us out.”
Do you expect the same level of intensity this weekend as there was during the 500?
“Anytime you go restrictor plate racing, you have a chance for some big wrecks to happen. The cars don’t handle well at Daytona and what happened in the 500 (earlier this year), we kept having late cautions and it kept bunching us back up. We were trying to do stuff with the cars that the cars wouldn’t do. The last 40 laps in the 500 were the most intense 40 laps I’ve ever been a part of. Hopefully we can be in front of that mess and not have to hold our breath so long.”
You captured your first win at Daytona in 2000. How special was that?
“Daytona is so entrenched in NASCAR’s history. There’s no question the (Daytona) 500 is the bigger of the two races but I won’t give my 400 trophy back.”
