Race 2 Win: NEXTEL Cup Series Race Notes

Nextel Cup Series

Dickies 500 - Jeff Burton Notes

Jeff Burton
No. 31 AT&T Chevrolet
Event Preview Fact Sheet

Event/Date: Dickies 500 – November 4, 2007
Venue: Texas Motor Speedway – Ft. Worth, Texas

NOTES:

This Week’s AT&T Chevrolet at Texas Motor Speedway … Jeff Burton will pilot chassis No. 155 from the Richard Childress Racing (RCR) stable. Most recently, Burton raced this car to a fifth-place finish at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in October. Additionally, this is the same AT&T Chevrolet Burton raced to Victory Lane at Texas Motor Speedway 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 and California Speedway in September. (Average Start – 13.13, Average Finish – 8.13)

Stat Facts … In 13 starts at Texas Motor Speedway (TMS), Burton boasts two wins, three top-five and five top-10 finishes.

Inaugural Winner … Jeff Burton won the inaugural NASCAR Cup Series race held at TMS on April 6, 1997, crossing the finish line four seconds ahead of Dale Jarrett.

Last Time Around … The South Boston, Va., native became the first-ever repeat winner at TMS on April 15, 2007. Burton also captured RCR’s first NASCAR Cup Series win at the Fort Worth race track.

Double Duty … In addition to his driving duties with the No. 31 AT&T Chevrolet, Burton, a 26-time race winner in the NASCAR Busch Series, will drive RCR’s No. 29 Holiday Inn Chevrolet in the O’Reilly Challenge Saturday, November 3. Live coverage of the event begins at 3 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) on ESPN2. The race will also be broadcast on the Performance Racing Network (PRN) and Sirius Satellite Radio.

RCR at Texas … Dating back to 1997, RCR owns one win, four top-five and 10 top-10 finishes with drivers Burton, Dale Earnhardt, Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer and Jeff Green. The victory came earlier this year when Burton passed Matt Kenseth on the final lap to capture his 19th career Cup Series win. Additionally, Childress, a former driver in NASCAR’s top division, earned a pair of top 10s while he was still behind the wheel at Texas World Speedway in College Station.

Points Check … Burton’s fifth-place finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway advanced the NASCAR Cup Series Chase contender one spot to eighth in the point standings. The 19-time Cup Series winner is 400 markers out of the lead and just 78 behind Tony Stewart’s fifth-place tally.

Chat with Burton: The Dallas Morning News (DMN) is offering fans a chance to chat with Jeff Burton. The web chat will take place on Thursday, November 1 at 12 Noon EDT for 30 minutes. For information on how to participate in the chat, log onto the DMN website at www.dallasnews.com/sports.

Dear Diary … Throughout the Dickies 500 race weekend at Texas Motor Speedway, Burton will once again become a guest columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The inaugural and first repeat winner at TMS will discuss the Chase for the Championship, along with his day-to-day activities from the track as he competes in both the Busch and Cup Series events this weekend. His column can be read in the motorsports section at www.startelegram.com.

Photo Opportunity … Beretta, the company that produced Burton’s winning revolvers, will present them to the Samsung 500 winner in Victory Lane on Saturday, November 3 at 9:40 a.m.

Up to Speed … The Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway will be televised live Sunday, November 4 beginning at 3 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on ABC and will be broadcast live on PRN and Sirius Satellite Radio. Qualifying for the 34th of 36 points-paying races will take the green-flag on Friday, November 2 at 4:40 p.m. EDT and will be telecast live on ESPN2. PRN and Sirius Satellite Radio will also provide live qualifying updates.

JEFF BURTON QUOTES:
Talk about your win at Texas earlier this season.
“Things went our way for that race. We needed a long green-flag run and that’s what we got. We were good when we needed to be good. Racing (Matt) Kenseth for the lead is something I will never forget. I have a lot of respect for Matt and his whole team. He’s a great racer, a smart racer and a clean racer. Drivers dream about winning a race on the last lap and that was cool – not only for me, but for the whole team as well. That’s what drivers do – we strive to win races – and we were able to do that there.”

What is it like to win a race on the last lap?
“That’s what driver’s dream of. They dream of winning on the last lap and passing a guy that you respect a lot. Basketball players dream of making a shot with no time left on the clock and race car drivers dream of turn-four last lap passes. I passed Kyle Busch in the last corner on the last lap in the Busch Series race at Vegas too. Those are the races that drivers remember.”

How tough is Texas Motor Speedway?
“Texas is an interesting race track. As the track gets older, the grooves change. As the track continues to make changes, obviously the groove will change too. Some people run the high groove and some run on the bottom. It’s a very fast race track. Texas is a very physically demanding track and the drivers are exposed to a lot of G-forces. Texas is a high-speed race track but more narrow than some of the other 1.5-mile tracks. It’s easy to get caught up in a wreck at Texas and easy to slip up just a little and get into the wall. It’s a really fun race track, but it is difficult.”