This Week’s Caterpillar Chevrolet at Martinsville Speedway … Jeff Burton will race chassis No. 319 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable. Built new for 2010, this Caterpillar Chevrolet was put through its first paces at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in September where the 17-year veteran was credited with a 15^th-place result after running out of fuel with two laps remaining in the 300 miler and coasting to the finish. This No. 31 racer also competed at Phoenix International Raceway last November where the team was well on their way to a promising top-10 finish but was forced to pit for fuel with eight laps remaining, relegating them to a 19^th-place effort.

Martinsville Details … In 33 starts at the Virginia oval, Burton boasts one win (Sept. 1997), 10 top-five and 15 top-10 finishes. Additionally, the 42-year-old holds a 16.9 starting average coupled with a 14.6 finishing average and has led 940 laps of competition, including paces in five of the last seven races. The veteran driver has also been running at the end of the last eight races at the paper clip-shaped oval.

Third Time the Charm? … After showcasing dominating performances in both Sprint Cup Series races at Martinsville Speedway last year, Burton and the Cat Racing team have set their sights on winning this year’s grandfather clock. In the spring 2010 race, Burton and fellow Virginian Denny Hamlin swapped the top spot seven times during the middle and latter stages of the 500-lap showdown. But, with 15 laps remaining, Burton cut a right-front tire while trying to make a pass on Hamlin for the lead that resulted in an undeserved 20^th-place result. Six months later when NASCAR’s premier division returned to the half-mile short track, Burton ran the majority of the race in the top five where he lead the most laps. In the closing 50 laps, while running second and gaining on then-leader RCR teammate Kevin Harvick, the right-rear tire was wearing off that caused the Caterpillar Chevrolet to loose grip and several positions that saw him take the checkered flag in ninth.

Loopy at Martinsville … According to NASCAR’s loop data statistics, the RCR driver has some pretty sporty rankings based on the last 11 events held at the paper clip-shaped oval: eighth in Driver Rating (90.1), Eighth in Fastest Drivers in a Late Run, sixth in Fastest Laps Run, seventh in Fastest on Restarts, ninth in Green-Flag Passes, eighth in Green-Flag Speed, eighth in Laps in Top 15, sixth in Laps Led, seventh in Speed in Traffic and eighth in Average Running Position (14.6).

Carry Me Back to Ole Virginia … Three members of the Cat Racing team hail from the Old Dominion State. Caterpillar driver Jeff Burton was born and raised in South Boston. Gear specialist Greg Meredith was born, and still resides, in Fancy Gap while tire specialist Tracey Ramsey hails from Fredericksburg.

JEFF BURTON QUOTES:

RCR has a good short track program, but it seems Martinsville doesn’t want to cut you guys any slack.

“Well, we had them beat in the spring there last year. We had (Denny) Hamlin beat. It was a done deal. Then, we cut a right-front tire. He won’t admit we had it done, but he was struggling at that point. The deal was going to get closed out. Then, we went back there in the fall and ran really, really well. We led laps. The last run of the race, we just weren’t as good as what we needed to be. I think we finished ninth. We had a really, really good car. What I look at is I don’t know how you keep from cutting a tire, so I’m not going to worry about that. With the race in the fall, we probably raced a little too hard, a little bit too early and ate the tires off of it. Again, who thinks you’re going to run 100 laps at the end at Martinsville? That’s what happened. We went a full fuel run to end the race at Martinsville. We just don’t ever see that. I was racing thinking another caution was coming out and it didn’t. Again, we had good race cars and I think we can go there and be ultra competitive.”

You’ve never been the kind of driver that flips out inside the race car. What goes through your mind? You’re working on ending a winless streak and you have the man you need to beat in your crosshairs. Then, all of a sudden the tire goes down. Walk people through what you’re thinking.

“Specifically, in that event, I remember I drove into turn one and the car just acted odd. Right then, I said ‘we have a problem.’ It was four or five laps later that the tire actually ended up going down. At some point, you just have to start managing the situation. You’re upset because you’re certainly losing an opportunity to win a race, but you go into survival mode. Just because it’s not as good as it’s going to be, it’s not going to be terrible. At that point, you have to get everything that you can. You have to make that switch quickly. You can’t be in denial. You have to accept your situation and go make the best out of it. It is very hard to walk out of a race track with your head held as high as you felt like you could have held it. Again, if you analyze the situation, then it’s a whole lot easier to take the good and the bad. If you always don’t think it’s your fault and always someone else’s fault, you have a problem. You have to analyze every situation for what it is and learn from it. If you do that, you tend to get over things a whole lot quicker. My deadline for myself to get over things is Monday at noon. If I’m not over it on Monday by noon, then I tell myself to grow up and quit being a baby.”

Given how you ran there last year, are you pumped up as ever to go there?

“Well, I really like Martinsville. I’ve always liked racing there. I think it’s one of the hardest races we run all year. There are a lot of people that hate Martinsville. That’s why I like it. This is the highest form of motorsports in North America. It’s supposed to be hard. This track is hard. I also know that I’ve been there before and won a race and went back there the next year with the same setup and didn’t finish on the lead lap. That track changes more than any track we go to. We have to go there with open eyes, open minds and be willing to change if something isn’t working. I think we have a good basic outline to start with but that won’t be good enough. We’ll have to find a way to make it better.”

I can’t believe how fast things happen at Martinsville. It seems to me that things happen faster at Martinsville than at other tracks.

“It does. That’s the thing that people don’t understand. At Fontana, a two-mile race track, things happen slowly, relatively speaking. At Martinsville, a half-mile race track, you’re going a lot slower, but things happen quicker. You never ever, ever have a time at Martinsville where you say, ‘alright, we can relax. We’ll hide out here for a little while.’ That doesn’t happen. You’re always in the midst of something. If you’re not right now, there’s a caution coming pretty quick, and you’re going to be in the middle of it pretty quick. I think from start to finish, that’s the hardest race we run, from managing your car, managing yourself, to staying focused on the goal. I think it’s the hardest race we run all year.”

Being from South Boston, how cool was it to win the Cup Series race in 1997 at your home track?

“I was really sick when we won that race. I was really struggling and could hardly stand up. That’s one of the most gratifying wins I’ve ever had because I passed Rusty (Wallace) on the outside before there was an outside (lane) to take the lead. We made a pit stop and he beat us out of the pits. There were a few cautions after that and each time, he kept jumping the restart and NASCAR warned him about that. Well, he did it again and they black flagged him. So, there I am leading the race and here comes Bobby Hamilton. He was on the inside and I was on the outside and I wanted to beat him. It was a really rewarding race because I had to work hard for it. Nothing came easy on that day.”

- Richard Childress Racing, Press Release