Jeff Burton
No. 31 AT&T Chevrolet
Event Preview Fact Sheet
Event/Date: Allstate 400 at the Brickyard – July 29, 2007
Venue: Indianapolis Motor Speedway – Indianapolis, Ind.
NOTES:
This Week’s Race Car at Indianapolis Motor Speedway … Jeff Burton will race chassis No. 155 from the Richard Childress Racing (RCR) stable. Most recently, Burton raced this car to a 24-th place finish at Michigan International Speedway (st. ninth). Since then, the entire body on this AT&T Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS has been re-done. Additionally, this is the same AT&T Chevrolet Burton raced to victory at Texas Motor Speedway (st. second) earlier this year. This car also saw action at California Speedway (started eighth, finished fourth), Las Vegas Motor Speedway (started fifth, finished 15th) and Atlanta Motor Speedway (started 32nd, finished fourth).
Stat Facts … AT&T driver Jeff Burton is one of six drivers on the 2007 entry list who have started every Brickyard 400. In 13 starts at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS), Burton has posted one top-five and two top-10 finishes and has been running at the end of every event. The South Boston, Va., native also captured the pole position for last year’s event.
Point of Interest … AT&T driver Jeff Burton currently sits fourth in the NASCAR Cup Series point championship with his Richard Childress Racing teammates Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer holding down the eighth and 10th spots, respectively. This marks the first time in company history and the first time since NASCAR implemented The Chase that RCR has had all three teams in the top 10 in points. Heading into the Brickyard last season, Burton sat 18th in the NASCAR Cup Series points.
RCR at Indianapolis … In 13 previous NASCAR Cup races at IMS, RCR has posted two wins (Earnhardt 1995, Harvick 2003), eight top-five and 15 top-10 finishes. RCR cars have also completed every lap except one and have been running at the finish of every Allstate 400 at The Brickyard dating back to the inaugural race in 1994. Additionally, two RCR entries started on the front row at IMS last season when Jeff Burton won the pole and Bowyer qualified second.
Chevy Day at The Brickyard … Burton will participate in Chevy Day at the Brickyard Friday, July 27 from 9-11 a.m. in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway infield. The AT&T driver will provide media and Chevrolet consumers “hot laps” around the historic 2.5-mile racecourse. He will also race remote controlled cars, participate in a fan question-and-answer session and sign autographs. RCR president and CEO Richard Childress, along with Burton’s teammates Clint Bowyer, Kevin Harvick and Scott Wimmer, will also be on-hand for the morning’s activities.
Make it Four … Scott Wimmer will attempt to qualify for his first NASCAR Cup Series race of the season this weekend at IMS driving the No. 33 Holiday Inn Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS, giving RCR four entries in the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard. Wimmer was behind the wheel of the No. 33 at Homestead-Miami Speedway last November, where he started 24th and finished 12th.
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 Brickyard 400, fans will be able to watch all the action through Direct TV’s multiple camera angles, real-time car telemetry and listen to in-car audio communication.
Giving Back … On behalf of State Farm, Burton will meet and visit with Habitat for Humanity volunteers at one of the project sites just miles from the speedway. The 19-time Cup Series winner will trade in his driver’s suit for a hard hat and tool belt as he learns the ropes of what it takes to build a house. State Farm has been an associate sponsor of Burton since the beginning of the 2006 season.
The Brickyard - Fan’s Victory of a Lifetime Rolls into Indy … Prilosec OTC’s Victory of a Lifetime Sweepstakes winner Jim Farina of Pittsfield, Mass. continues his ultimate NASCAR Fan’s season this weekend at IMS. This will be Farina’s 13th race of his 20-race schedule with RCR’s No. 31 Cup Series team. In addition to watching the prestigious Allstate 400 at the Brickyard, Farina will attend the exclusive driver’s meeting that precedes the race.
Up to Speed … The Allstate 400 at the Brickyard will be televised live Sunday, July 29 beginning at 1 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) on ESPN. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network (IMS) and Sirius Satellite Radio will also carry the race broadcast live. Qualifying for the 20th stop on the 36-race NASCAR Cup Series tour is scheduled for Saturday, July 28 beginning at 10 a.m. EDT and will be aired live on SPEED.
JEFF BURTON QUOTES:
You are currently fifth in the championship points with six races remaining until Richmond. Obviously there are no guarantees between now and Richmond, but there is a nice cushion in points between your fourth position and 12th.
“We always think about points, there’s no question about it. We, by no means, fell like we are definitely in the Chase. We have a lot of work to do. It’s not uncommon for teams to go through a stretch of several bad races. We had three races in a row where we finished bad and so did the 48 (Jimmie Johnson) team. It can certainly happen to anybody. There’s not a lot of wiggle room. Those guys sitting 13th, 14th and 15th in points are pretty good teams as well. We know they are going to be applying pressure and pushing the issue and we have to do the same thing. We can’t get complacent. We have to stay focused and go out and do the best we can every week.”
What makes the Indianapolis Motor Speedway a thrill to go to each year?
“There is no where we go where you get the sense of people like you do at Indy with the grandstands on both sides of the front straightaway. When you walk out on Sunday afternoon to start that race, it’s like nothing else. The driver’s introductions there are pretty cool. It’s amazing to see that many people and the excitement at Indy is cool. It’s an open-wheel sacred-ground race track and the fact that we can go there and race is truly an honor.”
You captured the pole last year at Indy. How exciting was that?
“Winning the pole at Indy was awesome. We struggled with qualifying at Indy before and to sit on the pole last year was pretty neat. The only bad thing is that I was at ORP (O’Reilly Raceway Park) practicing the Busch car and my wife called me to tell me that I won the pole. So, we weren’t there to celebrate it.”
Talk about last year’s run at Indy. You finished 15th but you led 87 laps.
“It was one of those races where you leave mad and frustrated. We dominated the first half of the race and it was like we flipped a switch and the car started handling badly. It really confused us. We never felt that we couldn’t execute, we were just off. It still bothers me to this day that we could be that good and then be that far off.”
Is Indianapolis a big momentum race track?
“Momentum is everything at Indy. It’s all about carrying speed through the middle of the corner so that you can be fast off the corner. Indy’s corners are different from any other we have in racing really, as far as the way we race. They’re shorter and there’s less corner. The track is perfectly smooth and you have to have really good grip to take advantage of that smoothness. If you are a little bit slow in the middle of the corner, it just carries that speed onto the exit of the corner. So, it’s very important to handle in all parts of the corners at Indy. You can’t just handle well getting in or getting off, it has to be good in all parts of the corners.”
