Catchfence

2009 NSCS Jeff Burton - (Photo Credit: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images for NASCAR)

· This Week’s Caterpillar Chevrolet at Daytona International Speedway … Jeff Burton will race chassis No. 217 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable in this weekend’s Coke Zero 400. Built new this season, Burton drove this Chevy Impala SS in the season-opening Daytona 500. Despite running a smart and conservative race, contact from another car and then the outside retaining wall left the No. 31 Caterpillar Impala SS 28th when rain forced NASCAR to declare the race official 48 laps from its scheduled 200-lap distance. Most recently, this No. 31 racer competed at Talladega Superspeedway in April where Burton fought back from going three laps down to the leader after electrical issues forced the CAT Racing team to change an alternator in the early goings of the 188-lap feature to finish 10th.

· Daytona Details … Burton is the 2006 Daytona 500 pole sitter and a former winner at the famed Daytona International Speedway. He claimed victory under the lights in the 2000 Sprint Cup Series event. In 31 starts at DIS, Burton has posted one win, six top-five and eight top-10 finishes and has led 100 laps of competition.

· Back to CAT … After showcasing a LENOX Industrial Tools paint scheme last weekend at New Hampshire, Burton’s No. 31 Chevy will return to its traditional black and yellow Caterpillar paint scheme this weekend at Daytona.

· Season Rewind … Over the season’s first 17 races, the South Boston, Va., native has accumulated two-top five and six top-10 finishes. He also has a 21.5 average starting position to go along with a respectable 17.1 average finishing position. The 21-time Sprint Cup Series winner has led 67 laps of competition and has completed 5,007 of the 5,034 (99.5 percent) laps contested thus far.

· Get to the Points … Burton enters this weekend’s Coke Zero 400 16th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship point standings. With nine races remaining before the Chase for the Sprint Cup kicks off in September at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, the 16-year veteran driver sits 108 markers behind 12th-place point man Juan Pablo Montoya. The top 12 in the Sprint Cup Series points following the September 12 Chevy Rock & Roll 400 at Richmond International Raceway are locked into NASCAR’s 12-team Chase for the Sprint Cup playoff field. Despite sitting outside the top 12, history shows that time is on Burton’s side. In 2007, Kurt Busch was able to overcome a 236-point deficit and charged his way from 15th to 10th in points by the time the checkered flag flew at Richmond.

· RCR Rocks Daytona … Dating back to 1986, RCR owns 24 total victories at DIS, including Dale Earnhardt’s emotional win in 1998, kicking off NASCAR’s 50th anniversary season, and Kevin Harvick’s dramatic win in the 2007 season-opening Daytona 500. Additionally, RCR won 10 straight (1990-1999) qualifying races with Earnhardt. All told, RCR has won six Bud Shootouts, including Harvick’s win earlier this season, 13 qualifying races, two Coke Zero 400s and two Daytona 500s. Dale Earnhardt Jr. also won the February 2002 NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Daytona driving a car fielded by RCR and Harvick won the 2007 Nationwide Series opener at DIS in the No. 21 Chevrolet. In 111 points-paying Sprint Cup Series races at the historic 2.5-mile Daytona Beach race course, RCR has four wins, 10 poles, 27 top-five and 48 top-10 finishes. RCR-prepared race cars have also led 1,440 laps and earned just over $18 million in purse money. Richard Childress, a former driver in NASCAR’s premier division earned two of those top 10s between February 1976 and July 1980.

· Meet the Driver… Burton will sign autographs at the Caterpillar souvenir trailer located in the DIS display area outside Turn 4 on Friday, July 3 from 6:30 – 7:30 p.m. Autographs will be available on a limited basis due to time constraints.

· Catch the Action … The Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway can be seen live Saturday, July 4 beginning at 6:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on TNT and heard live on the Motor Racing Network and Sirius XM Satellite Radio. Qualifying for the 18th of 36 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series events will air live on SPEED Friday, July 3 beginning at 4 p.m. EDT and will also be broadcast live on MRN and Sirius XM Satellite Radio.

JEFF BURTON QUOTES:

Daytona hasn’t been kind to you over the past couple of years. What approach are you taking this weekend?

“I’ve been sitting in the Daytona 500 races in the past three years thinking I had a chance to win the race. Something ended up happening in each race and it was one thing after another. For some reason, our car didn’t handle very well in the 400-mile race. But, we’re taking a different approach this year. We’re going with some different stuff this year so we can have a better handling race car. I don’t care how fast it goes, I just want to stay in the gas. Daytona is all about handling and if we can get the car to handle well, we’ll be in good shape.”

Do you setup your car differently in the Coke Zero 400 than you do for the Daytona 500?

“The handling is completely different in this race than it is in the (Daytona) 500. It’s so much slicker. It’s hard to get your car to handle well at Daytona but there is a fair amount of difference in the July race. It’s hard to get your car to turn in the corners and rear wheels to hook up. It’s a huge challenge.”

You captured your first win at Daytona in 2000. How special was that?

“Daytona is so entrenched in NASCAR’s history. There’s no question the (Daytona) 500 is the bigger of the two races but I won’t give my 400 trophy back.”

You are currently 16th in the point standings, 108 markers outside the Chase cutoff. What do you and your team need to do to get back in the top 12?

“It’s going to be a tough fight. After our finishes at Daytona and California, I felt that we were going to be in the midst of a points battle. I’ve prepared myself for it. We’re in a situation where we just have to race hard but smart. This is when we have to be our best. It’s going to be a huge challenge for us and we just have to put our best foot forward and focus on what we are doing right now, not get too far ahead, and go to work. The key is not getting knocked on our heels and keep moving forward. We can’t change who we are, what we do or our belief in one another. We can’t let this situation drive us. We need to drive the situation. We’re in a hole because of our performance and we are responsible for that. But, that also means we can turn this ship around. Our fate is in our hands.”

- Richard Childress Racing, Press Release