Catchfence

2011 NSCS Jeff Burton - Photo Credit: Chris Graythen/Getty Images for NASCAR

Race Notes and Quotes

This Week’s Caterpillar Chevrolet at Indianapolis Motor Speedway … Jeff Burton will race Chassis No. 367 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable in this weekend’s Brickyard 400. This is a brand new Caterpillar Chevrolet that will be put through its first competitive paces this weekend.

Indy Minutes … Burton is one of four drivers on the 2011 entry list who have started every NASCAR race at the Brickyard. In 17 starts at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Burton has posted one top five, five top 10s and has been running at the end of every event. His best finish of fifth came in July 1999. The veteran driver also captured the pole position for the 2006 event.

Loopy at the Brickyard … Over the last six Sprint Cup Series races at the Indianapolis facility, Burton has posted the fifth-best average running position of 12.2, according to NASCAR’s loop-data statistics. At the same time, he has spent 66.5 percent of his contested laps running in the top 15, which ranks him ninth amongst his competitors, and is slated 10^th in green-flag passes with 233. Other notable loop-data statistics that helped place the 21-time Sprint Cup Series race winner seventh in the Driver Rating category with a score of 95.0 are: fifth in Fastest Drivers Early in a Run, sixth in Fastest on Restarts, seventh in Fastest Laps Run, eighth in Green-Flag Speed and 10^th in Fastest Drivers Late in a Run.

Lambert Takes the Reigns … Luke Lambert has been named interim crew chief for Burton and the Cat Racing team, beginning with this weekend’s Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The 28-year-old RCR employee has been with the Welcome, N.C.-based organization since September 2005 after graduating from North Carolina State University earlier that year with a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering. He was named a team engineer for the No. 31 program in 2008. This will be Lambert’s first stint as a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series crew chief.

Last Time Around … Burton and the No. 31 team had an impressive run in last season’s Brickyard 400. The South Boston, Va., native qualified 10^th for the annual spectacle, ran inside the top 10 for the majority of the 160-lap showdown and posted his second-best career finish at the hallowed ground of Indianapolis Motor Speedway of sixth.

Sign Here, Please … The driver of the Caterpillar Chevrolet will sign autographs from 11:05 – 11:35 a.m. on Friday, July 29 during Chevy Day at the Brickyard in the infield’s east chalet. Burton is also scheduled to sign autographs on Saturday, July 30 from 12 noon – 12:45 p.m. inside the speedway’s infield Pavilion Room 1C, located adjacent to the Pagoda Plaza. Information on how to obtain wristbands for both autograph sessions can be found at www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com.

Jeff Burton Live … Burton will participate in two question-and-answer sessions with fans at the Chevy Stage, which is located adjacent to the Hall of Fame Museum near turn two. He’ll first appear on Friday, July 29 from 11:45 a.m. – 12 noon before returning on Sunday, July 31 from 9:15 – 9:30 a.m.

JEFF BURTON QUOTES:

What makes Indianapolis Motor Speedway a thrill to go to each year?

“I think it’s an honor to go to Indy every year. The history is unbelievable. There is nowhere we go where you get the sense of people like you do at Indy with the grandstands on both sides of the front straightaway. It’s fun going there because we didn’t create the history. We go there on someone else’s coat tails. We made Daytona, Darlington and Charlotte. We didn’t make Indy. It’s a cool race and it means a great deal to race there. When you walk out on Sunday afternoon to start that race, it’s like nothing else. The driver’s introductions there are pretty cool. It’s amazing to see that many people and the excitement at Indy is cool. It’s an open-wheel, sacred-ground race track and the fact that we can go there and race is truly an honor.”

What are your expectations for this weekend’s Brickyard 400?

“This race is coming off an off weekend and everybody comes back with a refreshed attitude and, hopefully, we’ll do the same thing. We’ve sat on the pole and led a lot of laps at Indy but have never won. It’s certainly one of the places where we want to win on. We ran well last year, finishing sixth, so I believe we can return with some old notes, as well as some new ideas, and, hopefully, put together a good setup for Sunday.”

What are the keys to doing well at Indy?

“Momentum is everything at Indy. It’s all about carrying speed through the middle of the corner so that you can be fast off the corner. You have to be patient in some of the corners while being aggressive in the other corners. All four corners take something different in different parts of the corners. It doesn’t look like that when you are looking at the track from an aerial view. Maximizing what you as a driver need to do and what your car needs to do in each place at all four corners is paramount. The corners are shorter than what we normally race on but there is still an entrance, middle and exit. Two of those corners lead to extremely long straightaways that offer a great deal of speed. So, hitting those corners at the right place and at the right time, and understanding what each corner needs, is the best, fastest and successful way around the track.”

- Richard Childress Racing, Press Release