NASCAR WCUP: Ward Burton ready for new challenge at Chicagoland

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

July 12, 2001

“We had a great run last week at Daytona. We were competitive all night long. We had good pit stops and we communicated real well. That’s what we needed to do and we did it. Now, we can move on and try and do the same thing this weekend at Chicago.” - Ward Burton, driver of the Caterpillar Racing Dodge

BURTON ON RACING AT A NEW VENUE IN CHICAGO…

“I am very excited to be heading to Chicago. It is in the backyard of Caterpillar’s main headquarters in Peoria, Ill., where there are literally thousands of CAT fans. We should have a good following at the new track and wouldn’t it be great to get that first win of the season in their home state?”

“I have heard that the track is very fast and wide like Michigan, but banked like Texas. The combination of the two tracks would make it very fast. I would also expect there to be a lot more grip with the new pavement and that is going to increase the speeds as well. We’ll bring a lot of gears and have lots of spring and shock combinations to try since we haven’t been there yet.”

BURTON ON THE PEPSI 400…

“The plan was to come home in one piece and we accomplished that. I think we had one of the best racecars out there, but we couldn’t get the rear to stick. It felt like the car was driving me and I couldn’t control it enough to make any moves up through the middle and try and drive to the front. We sat back there and rode for a few laps until Tommy and the guys could make some changes to the car. There wasn’t any point in trying to race with a car that was somewhat out of control. We waited until we could pit to make changes and that was the right thing to do. We got in the mix of things there at the end and that’s all you can ask for at those kind of races.”

BURTON DALE EARNHARDT JR.’S VICTORY…

“To win right here where his dad grew into a legend is pretty awesome for Dale Jr. He led a bunch of laps and it looked like his car was handling exceptionally well, even in the long runs. It’s pretty neat for the race fans and his family.”

Text provided by H. K. Stoddard

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