Jeff Burton
No. 31 LENOX Industrial Tools Chevrolet Impala SS
Event Preview Fact Sheet
Event/Date: Crown Royal Presents the Jim Stewart 400 – May 5, 2007
Venue: Richmond (Va.) International Raceway
NOTES:
This Week’s Race Car Richmond International Raceway (RIR) … Jeff Burton will pilot chassis No. 193 from the Richard Childress Racing (RCR) stable. Built new for the 2007 season, this is the same car that Burton raced to a 13th-place finish at Phoenix (started 31st).
Burton in the Loop at Richmond…
o Stat Facts … In 25 Cup Series starts at RIR, Burton boasts one pole, one win, seven top-five and 12 top-10 finishes.
o Speed Demon … According to NASCAR’s loop data statistics, Burton leads all drivers in the Fastest Drivers in a Late Run category. Drivers are ranked during the last 25 percent of laps run since a pit stop.
o Now that’s Quality … Burton continues to lead all drivers in the Quality Passes category. He has passed 798 cars while running the top-15 under green-flag conditions, 93 more passes than second-place Matt Kenseth.
Change of Scenery … LENOX’s associate sponsorship of RCR’s No. 31 Chevrolet kicks into high gear this weekend in Richmond as Burton and the No. 31 team transform their bright orange No. 31 Cingular Wireless Chevrolet into a white and blue LENOX racing machine for the Crown Royal 400. LENOX produces brandsaw blades, sawing fluids, hand tools and power tool accessories in over 70 countries around the world.
Double Duty … In addition to his driving duties with the No. 31 LENOX Industrial Tools Chevrolet, Burton, a 24-time race winner in the NASCAR Busch Series, will drive RCR’s No. 29 Holiday Inn Chevrolet in the May 4 Circuit City 250. The race will air live on ESPN2 beginning at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) and can also be heard on the Motor Racing Network (MRN) and Sirius Satellite Radio.
Testing One, Two, Three, Testing … Burton and the No. 31 team tested April 3-4 at Richmond International Raceway in preparation for the Crown Royal 400. This was the fourth of seven tests allowed under NASCAR’s 2007 testing policy. The remaining tests available to teams in NASCAR’s top division will be conducted at Lowe’s Motor Speedway (May 7-8), Dover International Speedway (May 14-15) and Talladega Superspeedway (Sept. 10-11).
RCR at RIR … Richard Childress is tied for fourth with Robert Yates for car owner victories at Richmond with six – five of them coming with Dale Earnhardt and the most recent coming last fall with Kevin Harvick. Additionally, in 90 starts, RCR boasts 30 top-five and 47 top-10 finishes at the three-quarter mile Virginia oval with nine different drivers including Earnhardt, Ricky Rudd, Mike Skinner, Harvick, Robby Gordon, Jeff Green, Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer. Childress, a former driver on NASCAR’s senior circuit, contributed three of those top 10s from 1976-1978.
Catch the Action … The Crown Royal 400 at RIR will be televised live Saturday, May 5 beginning at 7 p.m. EDT on FOX and will be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network (MRN) and Sirius Satellite Radio. Qualifying for the 10th of 36 NASCAR Cup Series events will take the green flag at 6 p.m. EDT Friday, May 4 and will be telecast live on SPEED.
JEFF BURTON QUOTES:
You will be racing the Car of Tomorrow this weekend at Richmond. What do you expect racing this type of car at this track?
“There are a lot of things we don’t understand about the Car of Tomorrow (COT) and one of them is how they race against other cars on bigger race tracks. There are going to be a lot of things that we will learn at Richmond that will apply to races like Dover and Darlington. I think racing the COT at Richmond will be fine. My experience with this type of race car is that they don’t drive as well as the other car but I think the quality of the race is going to be good. All I care about is whether or not my car drives better than everybody else’s and if it will do that, then I am happy.”
In preparation for this race, you tested at Richmond last month. How did that test go and did you learn anything new?
“I felt incredibly good leaving the test. I thought we had one of the best two or three cars at the test. We were fast on short runs and fast on long runs. The car drove well. We learned a lot and I left the test feeling really optimistic racing at Richmond.”
Talk about your finishes last year at Richmond.
“Richmond was a lot like Phoenix for us. We didn’t run terrible but we didn’t run great, either. At those types of tracks, if you can’t run well then it’s difficult to pass. We weren’t as good as we needed to be. We had tail-end top-10 cars in both of the Richmond races last year and we certainly need to find a way to do better than that.”
Richmond is one of your favorite tracks. Why?
“I just think for the teams, for the fans and for everybody that it takes to make this sport work, it’s the best all-around track. Richmond has good racing action. It’s big enough where it’s not wreck after wreck, but small enough where it’s close side-by-side action since you have multiple grooves. To me, it’s a really hard race track to beat competition-wise.”
