Top-30 drivers: Jeff Burton
By SceneDaily Staff Report
Monday, December 31, 2007
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Jeff Burton and his Richard Childress Racing team continued to build on the success of 2006, winning at Texas and making the Chase For The Nextel Cup for the second consecutive season.
Burton, a 40-year-old native of South Boston, Va., began racing full time in NASCAR in 1994 for the Stavola Brothers. He also spent eight seasons driving for Jack Roush, leaving the team in his ninth year there to join RCR. He has been credited with sparking that team's resurgence. In 2007, Burton earned more than $7.4 million in purses.
During the offseason, SceneDaily is taking a look at the top 30 in 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup driver points. Here's how Burton's season unfolded:
By the numbers: Burton finished eighth in the series standings, earning one win, nine top-five and 18 top-10 finishes.
Season highlights: Winning at Texas was obviously a highlight for the team, as was making the Chase For The Nextel Cup for the season consecutive year. Burton also closed the year on a high note, earning four consecutive top-10 finishes to close out the season and posting top-10s in five of the final six races of the year. At season's end, Burton was named the NASCAR Illustrated Person of the Year.
Key setbacks: The car of tomorrow was difficult to manage for the RCR teams from time to time. Burton's largest setback, though, came in the form of a pair of engine failures that each resulted in a finish of 43rd.
Newsworthy moment: Burton's team was known for an ongoing battle with NASCAR over his sponsor. Cingular changed its logos to AT&T after a corporate merger and when it tried to do so on Burton's car, NASCAR refused to allow the change and legal action ensued. Sprint Nextel, the series sponsor, was involved in the suit as well. In the end, a settlement was reached in which AT&T was allowed to sponsor the car through 2008.
In his words: "We've done a good job. We haven't done a great job. My grading scale is pretty tough. If you look at us in comparison to the entire field, I think you could give us a 'B+' but if you look at us and you grade us on our goals I'd have to give us a 'C.' Our goals were to win more races, lead more laps, win a championship and we've fallen short in several of those categories. So I'd have to give us a 'C', but that's because I have high expectations. ...
"The reality of it is, we're not here to be here. We are here to make the Chase; that's a great thing to make the Chase, but we're here to contend for the championship and we didn't do that in a year where I thought we could. So we're disappointed."
- Mentioned Drivers:
- Jeff Burton
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