NASCAR WCUP: Jeff Burton, Stoddard look forward to Mother's Day break
Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
May 9, 2001The NASCAR Winston Cup Series takes its second of three breaks this weekend, but the season still has six months remaining and teams will have to race on 26 of 27 weekends beginning with The Winston May 19. Jeff Burton, driver of the No. 99 Citgo SUPERGARD Taurus, and the rest of his team finished fourth in the points standings last season, but 2001 has been nothing but a struggle as the 25th-place spot in the standings will attest. Burton, along with crew chief Frankie Stoddard, talked about the importance of taking some time off during the season.
JEFF BURTON-99-CITGO SUPERGARD Taurus -- THERE ARE TWO FEWER WEEKENDS OFF THIS YEAR. DO YOU LOOK FORWARD TO IT A LITTLE BIT MORE? "Yeah, certainly. When you have something less, you desire it more. I've tried to this year take a little bit more time during the year, rather than wait for the off weekends to soak it all up, try to pace myself a little bit. I don't know if that's been effective yet or not, our performance hasn't been very good but I don't think it's because of that. I think off-weekends are really special for the guys that work every day. The drivers, we travel a lot, but we got it easy compared to the guys that work on the teams, so, in my opinion, it gives them a chance - hopefully, you're in a good enough spot that you can give them off more than just Saturday and Sunday. Hopefully, you can give them off Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday or something like that, because their time is very, very limited with their families and it gives them a chance to catch up with that. For them, it's really valuable, for the drivers, it's valuable, but I think it's more valuable for those guys."
THE CALENDAR DICTATES THE OFF DATES, BUT TWO OF THEM ARE VERY EARLY IN THE SEASON. CAN YOU 'BANK' THIS REST FOR WHEN YOU COULD BETTER USE IT, LIKE IN THE DOG DAYS? "I think that's exactly what I was talking about before. You've got to take time during the year, not just stockpile 'em on off weekends. If you stockpile 'em on off weekends you'll run out of juice, so you've got to be willing and able to take some time off during the year - a day here, a day there - to stay fresh the whole year."
WHEN YOU TAKE TIME OFF, DO YOU PUT RACING ENTIRELY OUT OF YOUR MIND, OR IS IT RATTLING AROUND IN THERE SOMEWHERE? "It's always rattling around, but as I get older I'm able to get away from it more than I used to. It used to be I couldn't get away from it at all, but I've learned the art of leaving your work at work and going home to your family. I've learned that a little bit. I didn't have it before but I'm gaining on it."
WITH A BREAK COMING UP, THE TEAM IS STRUGGLING. WOULD YOU RATHER RACE YOUR WAY OUT OF IT, OR IS NOW A GOOD TIME TO GET AWAY FOR A WEEKEND? "I don't know. It depends on the attitude of everybody. If we all feel like we're on the verge of coming out of our little problem that we've had and our slump, then having some time off is a good thing. If we go into our weekend off with bad thoughts, then it's a bad thing. We need to stay and work, and work through it."
FRANKIE STODDARD, Crew Chief-99-CITGO SUPERGARD Taurus-THERE ARE ONLY THREE WEEKENDS OFF THIS SEASON. DO THESE RARE DAYS OFF NOW TAKE ON EVEN MORE VALUE? "Yeah, I think so. This week, once we get through Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday, I'm sure, all the guys will really still be planning on what they're going to do for the weekend to make best use of their weekend, so to speak. They've probably been thinking about it for the last month, to be realistic about it. Certainly, when I look back after Mother's Day weekend, when I look back on Monday, and reflect back on what I did on the weekend I want it to be said that I got a lot accomplished and had a lot of fun and enjoyed myself for three days.
TWO OF THE THREE WEEKENDS ARE EARLY IN THE SEASON. WOULD IT MORE HELPFUL FOR CREW MEMBERS IF THEY WERE SPREAD OUT MORE? "Well, sure. It would be nice to have one in August. October wouldn't do a whole lot for anybody, I don't believe, just because the lake is getting cold and stuff is starting to wind down, the summer activities, the kids are going back to school and things like that. Certainly, if it worked out, in a perfect world, maybe a weekend off in April, one in June, one off in August, would be better than what we have, but on the same token, the best time to go racing is in the summer. And August is a great opportunity to run at Watkins Glen and Indianapolis and places like that. You know, it's just a tough part of the thing we do."
WHEN YOU TAKE A BREAK, DO YOU TRY TO GET AWAY FROM RACING ENTIRELY, OR IS RACING ALWAYS RATTLING AROUND IN YOUR BRAIN? "It used to rattle around in my brain, I'd take a weekend off and I'd be at a race track somewhere else. Then I got married, and she's tried to get me down a little bit better path to where when I go away for the weekend I really try to get it out of my mind, really don't think about it a whole lot until I get back to work on Monday."
A YEAR AGO, THE 99 TEAM WAS IN FOURTH PLACE AT THIS BREAK. WITH THE WAY THE TEAM IS GOING RIGHT NOW, DOES THE BREAK COME AT A GOOD TIME, OR WOULD YOU RATHER RACE YOUR WAY BACK TO WHERE YOU WANT TO BE? "I don't know. It's probably worse. When you're running real well you don't really care about having a break, so it really doesn't matter. Right now, when you're running bad, you feel like you need to just keep working real hard to try to get out of that slump. I guess you'd really like to work your way through it by just racing every weekend until you got through it. And then once you got to where you're starting running again good, then give me a weekend off, so I can enjoy it. Right now, you really can't enjoy it because when you get the weekend off you are having to end up thinking about the fact that you haven't run well."
Text provided by Greg Shea
Editors Note: To view hundreds of hot racing photos and art, visit
The Racing Photo Museum and the
Visions of Speed Art Gallery.