Catchfence

Jeff Burton In Car - Photo Credit: Chris Graythen/Getty Images

Race Notes and Quotes

This Week’s Caterpillar Chevrolet at Martinsville Speedway … Jeff Burton will race chassis No. 317 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable. This No. 31 Chevrolet has seen on-track action on three previous occasions this season. The first competitive laps came at Bristol Motor Speedway in March where Burton started 20th and finished in the 17th position. The South Boston, Va., native drove this RCR entry to an 11th-place finish at Dover International Speedway in May and a 33rd-place finish at Pocono Raceway in June.

Martinsville Details … In 34 starts at the Virginia short track, Burton boasts one win (Sept. 1997), 10 top-five and 15 top-10 finishes. Additionally, the 44-year-old has completed 93 percent of his contested laps (15,835 of 17,019), holds a 17.3 starting average coupled with a 14.9 finishing average and has led 940 laps of competition, including five of the last eight races. The veteran driver has also been running at the end of the last nine races at Martinsville Speedway.

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: sixth in Laps Led, sixth in Fastest Laps Run, eighth in Driver Rating (89.3), eighth in Fastest Drivers in a Late Run, eighth in Green-Flag Passes, eighth in Green-Flag Speed, eighth in Laps in Top 15, eighth in Speed in Traffic, ninth in Fastest on Restarts,10th in fastest driver early in a run, 10th in quality passes and 11th in average running position (14.9).

Last Time Around … Bad luck struck the No. 31 Caterpillar team during their last visit to the 0.526-mile Virginia facility. Burton took the green flag from the 32nd position and made his way into the top 10 by the halfway mark before making contact with another competitor and suffering heavy front-end damage. While the Caterpillar team went to work servicing the damaged racer, Burton went several laps down to the leaders. Unable to make up much ground, Burton was forced to finish 24th in the rundown, five laps down to the leaders.

Rearview Mirror: Talladega Superspeedway … Burton started the 500-mile event at Talladega Superspeedway from the 25th position and began climbing through the field with the help of his RCR teammate Clint Bowyer. The two Chevrolets hooked up and led seven times for 26 laps during the 188-lap race. Burton led the duo to the white-flag, but Bowyer made a late-race pass for the lead edging out the No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet to the line by 0.018-of-a-second.

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:

Being from South Boston (Va.), how cool was it to win the Sprint 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.”

You started 22nd and finished 34th in the spring race at Martinsville Speedway. Was it just one of those races where nothing went right?

“We were actually really fast. We drove up through the field and led a portion of the race. We pitted and a car blew a tire and stopped on the race track. We went through the pits to stay on the lead lap but the caution never came out, so when we got done, we were four laps down. Everything just unraveled from there, but we had a really fast car as we’ve had the last few races at Martinsville. The spring race there last year was another one that we had locked up, but Denny (Hamlin) won the race because we cut a tire. Martinsville is a track that I feel really, really good about. I think we can go there and win that race.”

It just seems your finishes don’t reassemble how you ran throughout the races at Martinsville Speedway?

“That shows more at Martinsville than any other track that we visit. If you look at the loop data, the No. 31 has been in the top of all the categories of the last three races at Martinsville.”

Getting a win at Martinsville Speedway would obviously not surprise you or your team, but might it be seen as an upset to other people?

“I think that people in the garage know because they’ve been watching. We know when we go to Kansas Speedway or Chicagoland Speedway the teams that have been performing well at those tracks. That includes the teams that haven’t been running well over the duration of the season, but they’re still good at those tracks so you know you’ll have to contend with them. I think that if people in the garage looked and said who the favorites were at Martinsville, we would probably be on their list.”

What do you think about (Kevin) Harvick beating Dale (Earnhardt) Jr. in the closing laps of the spring race at Martinsville Speedway?

“That was a good race. It was interesting because Harvick has been really fast at Martinsville recently too, and he actually struggled more at that race than he had the last two years at Martinsville. They just got it right at the right time and he went and won that race. It was a good battle and that was a sign there of never giving up. The first 200 to 300 laps of that race, you would never have thought that Harvick was going to win that race, but they went on to win. That’s a great example of a team and driver that doesn’t quit. Those kinds of races are the ones that are the most fun to win because you had to put it up on your shoulders and make something happen.”

- Richard Childress Racing, Press Release