Jeff Burton
No. 31 AT&T Chevrolet
Event Preview Fact Sheet
Event/Date: Pocono 500 – June 10, 2007
Venue: Pocono Raceway – Long Pond, Pa.
NOTES:
This Week’s Race Car at Pocono Raceway … Jeff Burton will race chassis No. 164 from the Richard Childress Racing (RCR) stable. Built new for 2006 season, this is the same car Burton drove to victory at Dover in September 2006. This chassis also competed in five other events during the 2006 season, accumulating three top-five and five top-10 finishes. The lone finish outside the top-10 came at Atlanta when a tire issue forced Burton to pit under green while running third with just seven laps remaining in the event. He raced this car to a fourth-place finish in June at Dover, California (started sixth, finished fifth), Las Vegas (started eighth, finished seventh) Atlanta (started third, finished 32nd) and Bristol (started second, finished ninth).
Stat Facts … In 26 starts at Pocono, Burton has posted six top-five and 13 top-10 finishes. Additionally, the South Boston, Va., native has earned an 18.0 starting average and a 17.2 finishing average.
Importance of Teamwork … Before heading to Long Pond, Penn. for the running of the Pocono 500, Burton will stop in Scranton, Penn. on Thursday, June 7 to be a guest speaker for a business seminar on behalf of AT&T. The 19-time Cup Series winner will speak to small business owners and decision makers on the importance of teamwork, utilizing racing as a metaphor for business and collaboration.
RCR at Pocono … In 86 starts, RCR team owner Richard Childress has two wins at Pocono, both of them coming with Dale Earnhardt. Earnhardt won the Summer 500, on July 19, 1987 and the Miller Genuine Draft 500 on July 18, 1993. Additionally, RCR has earned one pole, 10 top-five and 36 top-10 finishes at the three-turn speedway. Childress, a former driver in NASCAR’s top division contributed two of those top 10s from 1976-1980.
On the Hunt … RCR team owner Richard Childress along with grandsons Austin and Ty Dillon are in New Zealand this week hunting Red Stag, Chamois and Tahr.
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 Pocono 500, 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.
Going Home … One member from the AT&T Racing crew hails from the state of Pennsylvania. Car chief Darin Nestlerode grew up in Jersey Shore, Penn. In addition to his mechanic duties on the No. 31 AT&T Chevrolet, Nestlerode also holds the sign board in the pit box on race day.
Up to Speed … The Pocono 500 at Pocono Raceway will be televised live, Sunday, June 10 beginning at 1:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) on TNT and will be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network (MRN) and Sirius Satellite Radio. Qualifying for the 14th of 36 NASCAR Cup Series races is scheduled for Friday, June 8 at 3:30 p.m. EDT.
JEFF BURTON QUOTES:
What are your thoughts on Pocono?
“I’m looking forward to going back this year. I think our cars are much better and our engines are much better. It’s a real demanding and long race. Pocono lasts forever. It feels like the longest race we run all season. “
What makes Pocono so difficult for some teams?
“The fun thing about Pocono and the difficult thing is that every corner is different. You have to be good in every corner and you can’t sacrifice anything anywhere. Pocono is a very demanding race track physically and very demanding race track mentally. It’s one of our toughest tests we have all year.”
The straightaways at Pocono are some of the longest on the circuit. Can drivers lose concentration?
“Oh, no, when you’re going down that straightaway you’re not going to fall asleep. You are focusing on that next corner. The straightaways are really long but those corners are very challenging so there’s not much sleeping at Pocono.”
