NOTES:
2009 NSCS Jeff Burton - (Photo Credit: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images for NASCAR)
· This Week’s Holiday Inn/Holiday Inn Express Chevrolet Impala SS at Lowe’s Motor Speedway … Jeff Burton will pilot Chassis No. 077 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Nationwide Series stable. This is a brand new Holiday Inn/Holiday Inn Express Chevrolet Impala SS that will be put through its first paces when it hits the track this weekend.
· Milestone Start … Burton will make his 300th career NNS start at Lowe’s Motor Speedway this weekend. His first start in the series came at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway on March, 13, 1988. Since then, he has earned 27 victories, 88 top-five and 147 top-10 finishes and has led 4109 laps in the NNS.
· Statically Speaking … Burton has 14 top-10 finishes at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, the most of any driver in NNS competition. Burton also boasts three wins, one pole, eight top-five finishes and has led 430 laps in 30 career starts at the 1.5-mile quad-oval.
· Burton in RCR Chevrolets… Burton has driven six races at LMS for RCR’s NNS program and boasts one win, three top-five and five top-10 finishes. He also has a 9.5 average start to go along with a 9.3 average finishing position. He has been running inside the top-15 for 77.2 percent of the race laps and has led 94 circuits in those starts.
· Past Winner … Burton has earned six career victories at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, three in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and three in the NNS. His first four victories came while driving for team owner Jack Roush before giving RCR their second NNS win in October 2007 and its fifth NSCS win at LMS one year later.
· Holiday Inn Racing at Lowe’s … In five NNS starts, Holiday Inn Racing has earned one victory, three top-five and 5 top-10 finishes, an 8.4 average starting position and an impressive finishing average of 4.2. Over those same races, the 2007 owners’ point champions have led 94 laps and have completed every lap contested in those starts.
· RCR at LMS … In 41 NNS starts at the Concord, N.C., facility, RCR boasts three poles (Kevin Harvick – May 2001, May 2003 and Oct. 2003), two wins (Jeff Green – May 2002 and Burton – Oct. 2007), 10 top-five and 22 top-10 finishes, an 11.8 average starting position and an average finishing position of 14.5. RCR Chevrolets have completed 92.8 percent of the race laps (7619 of 8210) in those starts.
· Rearview Mirror … Burton finished eighth at Darlington Raceway two weekends ago. The South Boston, Va., native was able to keep the No. 29 in the top 10 for most of the event despite battling a tight-handling Impala SS. The Richard Childress-owned No. 29 remains ninth in the NNS owners’ point standings, 137 markers outside of fifth, held by the No. 16 Roush Fenway Racing and 245 points outside the lead held by the Joe Gibbs–owned No. 18.
· New Crew Chief … Doug Randolph takes over this weekend for 2008 NNS champion crew chief Dan Deeringhoff, who shifts to his new role as crew chief for RCR’s development driver Austin Dillon. Randolph has been a NASCAR crew chief for the past nine seasons and his resume includes stops at Chip Ganassi Racing, ppc Racing, MB2 Motorsports, Petty Enterprises and Dale Earnhardt, Inc. Most recently, Randolph served as crew chief for Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing’s No. 8 Chevrolet with driver Aric Almirola.
· ‘Three Wide for the Name on the Ride’ … Seven races remain to determine which of the three Holiday Inn Racing drivers (Burton, Clint Bowyer and Stephen Leicht) will have their name above the door of the No. 29 Chevrolet for the remainder of the season. The driver with the most wins, or best average finish, following the July Daytona event will win the internal wager. Currently, Leicht leads the competition with an average finish of 11.0, Bowyer is second with a 12.3 average finish and Burton is third with a 15th-place average finish. Burton’s last race of this competition is this weekend at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
· Sprint Pit Crew Challenge Champ … Chris Martin, veteran rear-tire changer for Holiday Inn Racing, took part in last week’s Sprint Pit Crew Challenge at Time Warner Cable Arena (Charlotte, N.C). Martin and the No. 31 CAT Racing over-the-wall crew beat 23 of NASCAR’s best pit crews and took home the $70,675 prize. Martin plans to donate a portion of his winnings to his local church.
· M Meet the Driver … On behalf of Coca-Cola, Burton will participate in a Q&A session moderated by TNT NASCAR pit road reporter Marty Snyder at the Food Lion Speed Street event in Uptown Charlotte on Friday, May 22. The 41-year-old driver will answer questions from fans from 8:15 – 8:45 p.m.
· Double Duty Wheeling … In addition to his NNS duties, Burton will pilot the No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet in the 50th running of the Coca-Cola 600 at LMS. The race will be televised live Sunday, May 24 beginning at 5 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on FOX and will be broadcast live on the Performance Racing Network and Sirius XM Satellite Radio.
· Race Broadcast Information … ESPN2 will air live coverage of the CARQUEST Auto Parts 300 on Saturday, May 23 beginning at 7 p.m. EDT. PRN and Sirius XM Satellite Radio will also air lap-by-lap coverage. Qualifying for the 11th event of the 2009 NNS series will air on SPEED at 3:30 p.m. EDT. PRN and Sirius XM Satellite Radio will also broadcast live updates of time trials.
JEFF BURTON QUOTE:
You’ve had success in the Holiday Inn Racing Chevrolet at Lowe’s. What are your goals this weekend?
“We’ve definitely run well at Charlotte in the Holiday Inn/Holiday Inn Express Chevrolet. We’re bringing a brand new car with us this weekend and I’m excited to see how it performs. Our season has not gone the way we have wanted it to thus far, but Charlotte is a place where we can get back to where we need to be. Everyone in the Nationwide shop is working hard and we’ve been improving our program week by week. I’m excited to be working with our new crew chief Doug Randolph this weekend and I feel he will play a major role in helping us run consistently the rest of the season.”
DOUG RANDOLPH QUOTE:
This is your first race with the No. 29 team. What are your thoughts about this weekend heading to Charlotte?
“I’m honored to be a part of Richard Childress Racing and their No. 29 program. This organization has a history of performing well in the NASCAR Nationwide Series and I definitely have big shoes to fill. I’m excited to get to the track this weekend and work with our team. I feel with the data we acquired from wind tunnel testing and the information Jeff (Burton) will give us in practice, we should have a strong showing in qualifying and during the race.”
- Richard Childress Racing, Press Release