Jeff Burton
No. 31 AT&T Chevrolet
Event Preview Fact Sheet
Event/Date: Ford 400 – November 18, 2007
Venue: Homestead-Miami Speedway – Homestead, Fla.
NOTES:
This Week’s AT&T Chevrolet at Homestead-Miami Speedway … Jeff Burton will race Chassis No. 155 from the Richard Childress Racing (RCR) stable. Most recently, Burton raced this car to a sixth-place finish at Texas Motor Speedway in November and is the same AT&T Chevrolet he raced to Victory Lane at the same track in April. This car also saw action at California Speedway in February, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway in March, Michigan International Speedway in June, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, California Speedway in September and Lowe’s Motor Speedway in October.
(Average Start – 14.67, Average Finish – 6.44)
Stat Facts … In eight starts at Homestead-Miami Speedway (HMS), Burton boasts three top-five and three top-10 finishes and has no DNF’s to go along with his Busch Series victory in 1998 at the South Florida track.
Double Down in Homestead … In addition to his driving duties with the No. 31 AT&T Chevrolet, Burton, a 26-time race winner in the NASCAR Busch Series (NBS), will drive RCR’s No. 29 Holiday Inn Chevrolet in the Ford 300 Saturday, November 17. Live coverage of the event begins at 4 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on ESPN2. The race will also be broadcast on the Motor Racing Network (MRN) and Sirius Satellite Radio.
Busch Championship … When Burton cranks his No. 29 Holiday Inn Chevrolet for Saturday’s 300-mile event, he will clinch the 2007 NBS owners’ title for RCR. RCR needs only two points to clinch the title over Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 20 Chevrolet. The only other time a split NBS title happened was 2003 when Hendrick Motorsports’ Brian Vickers won the driver’s title and RCR’s driving duo of Kevin Harvick and Johnny Sauter won the owners’ title.
Points Check … Despite posting the team’s 17th top-10 finish with his ninth-place finish at Phoenix International Raceway last weekend, Burton dropped to eighth in the NASCAR Cup Series point standings. Even though the 2007 Chase contender is 483 markers out of the lead, he sits just 80 points behind Tony Stewart’s fifth-place tally.
And the Winner Is … Burton has been named the 2007 Person of the Year by NASCAR Illustrated for his charitable efforts both on and off the track. Representatives from NASCAR Illustrated will present the South Boston, Va., native with this prestigious award on the pre-race stage prior to driver introductions on Sunday, November 18. In addition, Old Spice teamed up with NASCAR Illustrated, and as part of the award and presentation, will donate $5,000 to Duke Children’s Hospital in Burton’s name.
RCR at Homestead … Homestead has been a bit of an Achilles Heel for RCR and is one of the few race tracks where team owner Richard Childress hasn’t earned a victory. As a company, RCR’s best finish at HMS came in the 2003 when Harvick finished second. In 23 starts, RCR has two top-five and nine top-10 finishes at the mile-and-a-half, progressively-banked oval.
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 Ford 400, 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.
Meet the Driver … Burton is scheduled to meet fans and sign autographs Thursday, November 16 from 5-7 p.m. at the AT&T store located at 825 N. Homestead Blvd., Homestead, Fla.
Catch the Action … The NASCAR Cup Series season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway will be televised on ABC Sunday, November 18 beginning at 3 p.m. EST. The race will also be broadcast worldwide on the MRN and Sirius Satellite Radio. Qualifying for the final points paying race will be televised on ESPN2 Friday, November 16 beginning at 3 p.m. EST. MRN and Sirius Satellite Radio will also provide qualifying updates.
JEFF BURTON QUOTES:
The track configuration at Homestead has changed quite a bit over the seven years NASCAR has raced at the track. Do you like the current configuration?
“It’s now a very oddly built race track. It has a really fast exit to the corners but one of the slowest entries to the corners on the circuit. You have to drive Homestead differently than any other track we go to. You have to go in there and be careful to not have too tight of a box with your set up. A driver needs to be open to different options because it is such a different race track.”
Is it hard to find a good line around the track with the progressive banking?
“I think you definitely have to hunt for the best line. As a driver you have to be open to trying the different lines to find which works best for your car. The problem is when you are trying to get your car set up in practice, what line do you run? It’s really easy to set your car up for one line then move somewhere else and it doesn’t work as well. You really have to get committed to where you want to be and stay there.”
How would you rate the team’s overall performance this season?
“I would give it a B-. When we look at our program from this year, we see that we have some deficiencies that we need to work on. We understand that there are some areas that we have to improve in and a lot of times we pay more attention to the things that we’re not doing well in than the things we are doing well in. It’s hard not to focus on those things. We know that there are some areas that we have to get stronger in and that is what we’re going to focus on. We did a nice job this year but for us to continue to be competitive and put ourselves in position to win a championship, we have to take another step.”
