NASCAR WCUP: Ward Burton heads to Pocono after disapointing finish at Michigan

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

June 12, 2001

“Pocono is the most unique track on the circuit. It is such a handling track. You have to be able to get through three very different turns. Your car has to handle good and you need lots of horsepower. You put those two things together and you’ll be tough to beat.” -Ward Burton, driver of the No. 22 Caterpillar Dodge

BALDWIN ON MICHIGAN…

“We are searching for a little luck, I think that is the key component missing from our team right now. We had struggled quite a bit at Michigan. We tried several different set-ups and threw all kinds of different shock and spring combinations at the No. 22. We changed a lot of things before the race. Things were looking good for the race as Ward moved toward the front quickly. He had made his way to third through adjusting on the car pit strategy and having great pit stops and then we just started getting hot and eventually lost power. Ward came into the garage and we found that something came through the radiator and punctured a hole in it. That ended another chance of having a good run. We just need some luck.”

BALDWIN ON POCONO…

“Pocono has been a very good track for Ward, but his stats don’t show it. Just like last year, we ran extremely well in both races, but don’t have those finishes to show for it. We were running seventh last spring and we got stuffed in the wall. We were running in the top-10 last fall and we left lugnuts loose.

Pocono is like no other track that we go to. It has three distinctively different turns. Turn one is the most normal turn, with it’s sweeping turn. The tunnel turn (turn two) is a very tight turn, mostly because you’re going so fast when you enter the turn and then turn three is tight and bumpy. I’d have to say that getting through turn three is the most important since it dictates your frontstretch speed. We’re taking the same car that we raced at California. That was a great car until we wrecked. We have repaired it and we hope it can be just as competitive this weekend.”

Text provided by Heidi Stoddard

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