Race 2 Win: Sprint Cup Series Race Notes

Sprint Cup Series

Crown Royal Presents the Dan Lowry 400 - Jeff Burton Notes

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

Event/Date: Crown Royal Presents the Dan Lowry 400 – May 3, 2008
Venue: Richmond (Va.) International Raceway

NOTES:

This Week’s AT&T Chevrolet at Richmond International Raceway … Jeff Burton will pilot Chassis No. 204 from the Richard Childress Racing stable in this weekend’s Crown Royal 400. This is the same AT&T Chevrolet Burton drove to Victory Lane earlier this season at Bristol Motor Speedway. Built new for the 2007 season, this is the same car Burton raced at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in September (st. 23rd; fn. 18th), Martinsville Speedway in October (st. 18th; fn. 12th) and Phoenix International Raceway in November (st. 12th; fn. ninth).

Richmond Report … In 27 Cup Series starts at RIR, Burton boasts one pole, one win, seven top-five and 12 top-10 finishes.

Last Time Around … Engine woes just 138 laps into the Crown Royal 400 at RIR last season left Burton and the AT&T Racing team with a 43rd-place finish. The South Boston, Va., native was posting lap times quicker than the leaders and was up to 15th from his 39th qualifying position before the engine expired on the No. 31 Chevrolet.

485 for Burton … This weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series event will mark Burton’s 485th career start in NASCAR’s premiere division. The 40-year-old driver began his NASCAR Cup Series career at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on July 11, 1993.

Season Rewind … Over the season’s first nine races, the South Boston, Va., native has claimed one win, three top-five and six top-10 finishes and has yet to finish worse than 13th. The 20-time Cup Series winner took over the NASCAR Cup Series championship points lead after posting a third-place finish at Martinsville Speedway and has held the top spot since then. He currently leads second-place Kyle Busch by 22 markers.

And Then There Was One … The 2008 Food City 500 winner is the lone driver who has completed every lap of competition this season. Burton also has completed 80.6% of the total laps (2,327 of 2,887) running in the top 15 and leads all drivers with the most runs on the lead lap (2,867 of 2,887).

Don’t Miss a Beat … This weekend Burton’s AT&T Chevy will be one of four cars featured on DIRECTV’s HotPass Coverage. With a channel dedicated solely to the AT&T Racing team during the Crown Royal 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. NASCAR HotPass, only on DIRECTV, features four driver channels including dedicated announcers for each team. The service, combined with race day telecasts and nascar.com coverage, gives fans the most comprehensive and powerful NASCAR experience possible. Burton’s team will be showcased on DIRECTV channel 792 and DIRECTV’s HD channel 797.

Make if Four … Scott Wimmer will attempt to qualify for his first NASCAR Cup Series race of the season this weekend at Richmond driving the No. 33 Camping World Impala SS, giving RCR four entries in the Crown Royal 400. Wimmer’s most recent Cup Series start came last July at Indianapolis Motor Speedway where he started 21st. Unfortunately, contact with another car on pit road ultimately left the Wausau, Wis., native with a 31st-place finish.

RCR at RIR … Richard Childress is tied for fifth with Robert Yates for car owner victories at Richmond with six wins – five with Dale Earnhardt and the most recent coming in 2006 with Kevin Harvick. Additionally, in 101 starts, RCR boasts 28 top-five and 46 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, Burton and Clint Bowyer. Childress, a former driver on NASCAR’s senior circuit, contributed three of those top 10s from 1976-1978.

Carry Me Back to Old Virginia … Five members of the AT&T Racing team hail from the Old Dominion State. AT&T driver Jeff Burton was born and raised in South Boston. Gear specialist and fuel runner Curt Bowman calls Meadows of Dan his hometown. Transporter driver Franky Nester was born in Ridgeway and now resides in Stoneville. Gear specialist Greg Meredith was born and still resides in Fancy Gap and tire specialist Tracey Ramsey is from Waynesboro.

Catch the Action … The Crown Royal 400 at RIR will be televised live Saturday, May 3 beginning at 7 p.m. EDT on FOX and will be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and Sirius Satellite Radio. Qualifying for the 10th of 36 NASCAR Cup Series events will take the green flag at 5:30 p.m. EDT Friday, May 2 and will be telecast live on SPEED. MRN and Sirius Satellite Radio will provide qualifying updates.

JEFF BURTON QUOTES:
You’re having a good season so far – current point leader and you haven’t finished worse than 13th.
“I feel good about where we are. I feel good about the work we’re putting in to our race cars. I feel good that we’re working hard to answer the challenge of being better as the year gets on. I can’t ask for a whole lot more from my team and I can’t ask for a whole lot more from myself. We have to make sure we’re efficient and we have to make sure we continue to improve. If we do those things and have some fortune, then it can be our year. We can’t control what our competition is doing. Maybe they learn more than we do, I don’t know. We can only control what we do and hopefully we’re responding to the areas that we need to be stronger in. If we continue to do that then we’ll be alright.”

What makes Richmond a hard track to figure out and why have some drivers been able to figure it out and others have not?
“It takes a lot of different stuff to run well on a short track. I think things get magnified on a short track. Being off a little bit makes you off a lot more on those tracks. I don’t think it’s unlike Martinsville, Phoenix or New Hampshire. There seems to be some teams that do a better job of being ready and some drivers that do a better job of being ready for that type of racing because it is different than what we’re doing at intermediate tracks. You do drive the cars different and you set them up differently. So there are a lot of factors that go into it. Having cars that drive well and having a driver that does well on those race tracks are very important. You can’t deny that some drivers do a better job at that type of race track than others. Kevin (Harvick) is a good example. He always runs well at those race tracks and you can’t deny that it has something to do with his driving.”

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.”