Burton Admits Surprise by "Have At It" Attitude Effect on Season

[photo by Debbi Willis, AV/SCR]

Daytona, September 8, 2010- As the Chase looms on the horizon, Richard Childress Racing is poised to place all three drivers in the Chase in 2010 after an abysmal 2009 season that left everyone wondering what went wrong. The only race that usually rearranges the lineup, Richmond, stands before them and essentially only Clint Bowyer will be fighting to stay in the Chase. Jeff Burton visited Daytona to see how the repaving was going on behalf of his sponsor, Caterpillar and also participate in burying a time capsule with Daytona Speedway President, Joie Chitwood III.

[photo by Debbi Willis AV/SCR]

The twofold event involved fans gathered with the media for the burying of a time capsule on the frontstretch and a question and answer session with Burton. Joie Chitwood III welcomed everyone and explained what was in the capsule and how the capsule was designed to last the next hundred years. Fans asked Burton various questions, such as, "do you purposely hang in the back of the pack, then come to the front towards the end of the race?" and Burton responded with a smile, "no, not really" but went on to explain that he usually isn't doing what the announcers seem to think he is doing but it appears that way and it works out that way. He also noted that he doesn't watch the race he's raced until he's about to race there again. Another fan asked about concerns with multicar teams in the Chase such as RCR receiving "team orders". Burton assured them that no such orders exist in Richard Childress Racing because for their fans, their sponsors and with each driver, they feel it’s only fair they each race their own race. They share their information, but they don’t have "team orders" favoring one driver over another. On a humorous note, Chitwood interjected that this was not the “other side of the pond” and “that” racing series. Fans enjoyed volleying various questions back and forth to Burton until it was time for Burton to go drive the Caterpillar Motor Grader, a huge piece of equipment used to grade the surface in preparation for paving.

[photo by Debbi Willis, AV/SCR]

Burton mounted the Caterpillar and immediately realized just how much out of his league he was! It’s big, and he had a lot to learn before he could just drive it. Burton commented later about driving it, “You watch an operator use this equipment and they make it look so easy. They just make it look like it’s nothing to it, but it’s really difficult. It’s really difficult to operate the equipment—correctly. I have a whole new found respect for how they make it look so easy. It’s very hard. It’s not hard to just move dirt, but it’s really hard to put it where it’s supposed to be.”

History is important to Jeff Burton. He mentioned several times with awe the years and generations of racing history in the Daytona Speedway and the link to Darlington and the France family’s work to build the speedway. “It’s really cool to be here,” said Burton, who added he would like to come back to Daytona someday to dig up the time capsule. “The history of this race track and the France family actually building this track with their own hands and (now) seeing it reconstructed, it’s pretty cool. This track is going to make racing incredible.” He went on to explain how incredible the racing will be so that the Daytona 500 for 2011 should be a sellout for this new track!

[photos by Debbi Willis, AV/SCR]

The media had their chance with Burton next. Dwight Drum of Racetake.com asked Burton , “Does making the Chase change your team’s strategy?” He responded honestly that, “All along the goal was to make the Chase. Coming into the year we honestly had a realistic shot at winning the championship. We’ve now positioned ourselves. We haven’t positioned ourselves to enter the Chase with at least 30 points. We’re not going to be able to do that so we got some ground to make up. At the same token the major goal was to get there, the first major goal. The biggest goal is to win the championship, but you can’t win the championship without being in the Chase. So for the last few months we’ve been protecting our position a little bit. We felt like we were solidly in the Chase if we didn’t have a catastrophic July and August. We protected a little bit and didn’t race quite as aggressively as we’d like to, but now it’s game on. Now we just go out and get what we can get.”

[Photo by Debbi Willis, AV/SCR]

Knowing Burton is a huge fan of the history of the tracks, someone asked, “Are you going to get a piece of the track?” and he just smiled and said, “I did a little bit of stuff when they repaved Darlington. I’ve got round piece of the of Darlington racetrack. I’ll get a piece of this as well.” And he did when moments later, Daytona Speedway President Joie Chitwood III presented him with a good size core piece of the track showing all its layers. Chitwood went on to explain that Daytona has an arrangement with Josten’s for fans to buy pieces of the track in a variety of shapes on special order, for a very unique idea for the old track pieces.

[photo by Debbi Willis AV/SCR]

When asked about his teammate’s stellar season leading the points, Burton responded with, “Kevin and those guys have been able to manage good days and bad days. You haven’t seen many times where they had days like they had this weekend. Typically they’ve found a way to take an 11th place day and turn it into a fourth or fifth. Then when they’ve been in a position to win, they’ve capitalized on it. They’ve done a great job. The points show how good of a job they’ve done. I can’t say I’ve been surprised. It’s really good race team and Kevin Harvick is a really good race driver. I can’t say I’m surprised about it.”

My question for Burton involved the Chase and the “have at it” attitudes, so I asked, “You’ve been involved in a few altercations over the past couple months, Infineon, Charlotte… that have affected your points, now that you’re in the Chase, do you think the ‘have-at-it attitude’ will have an effect for the Chase races?” At that point, Jeff took his sunglasses off and seriously replied, “Oh yeah, I think it’s had an effect and I didn’t believe that it would. I honestly thought it wasn’t that big of a deal. But it has had an effect. The intensity is going to be ratcheted up.”

Burton concluded the interviews with answering a question about being the first driver to win on the new track, and Burton replied, “It’s going to mean a lot. I think that this for NASCAR racing, this is our track. Here and Darlington the history is intertwined. I think coming here to win the Daytona 500 on the new surface. I think that’s going to be a big deal. It will be for me.” Burton had mentioned earlier that the teams had already had meetings about building the right car for the new track.


With the Chase in front of them, drivers are already planning for Daytona with a twinkle for the checkers on a smooth, lightning-fast surface that promises some serious intensity. Let’s hope Burton’s assessment is correct.