Catchfence

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

Race Notes and Quotes

This Week’s Caterpillar Chevrolet at Homestead-Miami Speedway … Jeff Burton will race Chassis No. 367 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable. This Caterpillar Chevrolet is a recent addition to the fleet and ran for the first time at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July where Burton started 13th and finished 35th after facing electrical issues in the closing laps. It later ran at Atlanta Motor Speedway in September, where Burton started 27th and climbed through the field to post a 13th-place finish. Most recently this racer started 31st and finished in the 21st position at Kansas Speedway in October.

Homestead Details … In 12 starts at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Burton boasts four top-five and five top-10 finishes with his best effort of second coming in November 2009.He is one of four drivers who have competed in all 12 Sprint Cup Series events at the 1.5-mile oval, has been running at the end of all 12 races and has completed 98 percent of the laps contested. The 21-time Sprint Cup Series race winner is also tied for second with Kurt Busch, Carl Edwards, Jimmie Johnson and Mark Martin for the most top-five finishes posted at HMS with four. Jeff Gordon and RCR teammate Kevin Harvick lead with five top-five efforts.

He Knows His Way to Victory Lane … Although he has yet to capture a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory at the Sunshine State facility the South Boston, Va., native has two NASCAR Nationwide Series checkered flags on his Homestead resume (1998 and 2007).

Bringing the ‘Mo’ to Florida … The South Boston, Va., native and the Luke Lambert-led crew has notched three top-six finishes in the past four races. Burton scored a runner-up finish at Talladega Superspeedway four weeks ago and followed that up with a sixth-place effort at Martinsville Speedway the subsequent weekend. Most recently, the Cat Racing team earned a fourth-place this past weekend at Phoenix International Raceway.

Heading into the Finale … In the season’s first 35 events, Burton has earned two top-five and four top-10 finishes and has led 90 laps of competition. He has recorded a 20.4 starting average coupled with an 18.5 finishing average. The veteran driver has completed all but 193 laps (10,190 of 10,383) contested and sits 21st in the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings.

Featured Cat Dealer … Based in Miami, Fla., Kelly Tractor Co. will be featured on the deck lid of the No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway Since 1933, Kelly Tractor Co., the Caterpillar dealer for South Florida, has provided rentals, leasing, sales and servicing of all types of construction and industrial equipment to the following markets: highway and bridge building, water and sewer, land development, housing, aggregate quarries, agriculture, warehousing, seaports, marinas and other markets. The company is headquartered in a 240,000 square-foot complex in Miami, Fla. with main branch locations in Davie, West Palm Beach, Clewiston and Ft. Myers Cat Rental Stores are also available in Miami, Davie, West Palm Beach, Clewiston and Ft. Myers. Kelly Tractor Co. and its affiliates employ over 430 people.

Last Time Around … The Cat Racing team closed the curtain on the 2010season with a disheartening 31st-place finish in the 400 miler at Homestead-Miami Speedway after an accident on lap 182 required an extended visit to the garage to repair damages.

Last Week in the Desert … Burton and the No. 31 Cat Global Mining Chevrolet team continued their late-season surge by posting a fourth-place effort at Phoenix International Raceway, which allowed the South Boston, Va. native to climb two positions to 21st in the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings.

JEFF BURTON QUOTES:

With all the hard times this season, will you be glad to see the season over after Homestead?

“I feel like one year leads into the next and sometimes you just want to stop and regroup. I think this is one of those times. I’m still very energized and still like coming to the race track even though this has been a tough year. I feel like the way you turn things around is to keep going. The end of the year brings the finale but it also brings reality, too. There’s no way to hide your year anymore. We’re hoping some things will come our way and we’ll find some things that will provide for better finishes and allow for a better mind set at the last race of the season. I’m really never glad to see the year end whether I’m having a good season or a bad season. The end of the season brings a hard time of year for me. I’m left wondering what to do now because I enjoy being at the race track and racing. The off season is a little odd. But, at the same time, it will be good to stop and start over again in February.”

Has the season flown by or kind of dragged on considering how it’s been for you?

“I used to hear my parents talk about how the years fly by and I used to laugh at them, but now they really do fly by. I feel like we were just at the Daytona 500 not too long ago. It seems the years go by faster the longer you’re in the sport. It’s hard to see how quick the season is going by when you’re in the midst of it. But, looking back on the season, it’s really gone by fast.”

How important is it to have a good run at Homestead-Miami Speedway as the season finale to provide momentum for the beginning of next season?

“It’s always important to run well at all of the tracks we go to no matter if it’s the first or the last race. It doesn’t matter if we win or finish last. I won’t leave Homestead thinking our finish is how our season will be next year. It’s always better to have a good finish because you feel good leaving the track, but three or four days later you’ve forgotten about it and gone onto the next thing. Homestead doesn’t have a lingering affect. Just because you win at Homestead doesn’t mean you’re going to a great season the next year. The way we ran (at Homestead) last year doesn’t mean we would have a better or worse chance to win the Daytona 500 this year. You’ll know how you’re going to do the following season by the preparation between now and the (Daytona) 500.”

Do you think you’ve been snake bit there the last couple of years?

“It seems like everything that’s happened at Homestead has almost always been in our control – no matter if we run well or run bad. I don’t look at Homestead and think ‘wow, we have a lot of bad luck there.’ We’ve been in position to win, but we haven’t put ourselves where we needed to be in the last run and got beat. We didn’t do a good enough job.”

- Richard Childress Racing, Press Release