NASCAR WCUP: Ward Burton wants to 'stay safe' at Talladega

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

April 20, 2001

“I wish I could be talking about some changes heading into this race, but I’m not. Instead I’m talking about how I’m going to stay as safe as I can and finish the race with all four wheels on the ground. When I was running in the 500 (Daytona 500), I got wrecked and the fourth-place car landed on the 24th place car’s roof. That makes me think we might want to make a change that would allow the cars to get strung out a little bit. The way the rules are, you can’t lose the draft.” -Ward Burton, driver No. 22 Caterpillar Dodge

BURTON ON TALLADEGA…

“This is going to be a real difficult weekend for the families and the competitors. We all have been dreading it since we left Daytona in February. It is a subject that most racecar drivers don’t like talking about. We don’t like talking about it to our families and we certainly don’t like talking about it at the racetrack. We have been faced with a real dose of reality. We have had several conversations with our children about the potential of tragedy. Let’s hope this weekend will be safe weekend for the fans and the competitors.

“I feel like they (NASCAR) should have made some change heading into this weekend. I am not sure what those changes needed to be and I am not pretending to be an expert. I just know that when you take the sports biggest icon, something needs to be done.”

BALDWIN ON TALLADEGA TEST…

“The team went to Talladega to test after the race at Martinsville. We took Tom Hubert and put him in the car to find out where the recent rule changes left the new Dodge. We think the test went real well, however, we’ve lost about a ½-second off where we were in Daytona because of the changes. We were able to get the car pretty close to where we were in Daytona speed wise, but we still feel like we’ve been slighted.

“I am not sure why NASCAR made the changes to the new Dodge. Our templates were built pretty close to the Ford’s and they got a change that will help them and we had a change that is going to hurt us. We’ll have to wait and see how we end up, but it won’t be like it was in Daytona. We’ll still have a good car and as long as we have a good qualifying effort, we’ll be fine in the race. If you saw last fall’s race, then you noticed that you could come from 21st and take the trophy in the final three laps. Dale Earnhardt made that amazing charge to the front, which is what made him one of the elite restrictor plate drivers. This weekend it will be up for grabs and we hope it’s ours.”

Text provided by HK Stoddard

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