NASCAR WCUP: Burton Looks To Richmond To Keep Momentum Going

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

September 6, 2001

“Richmond has been an up and down track for us. We’ve run well there in the past and we’ve run poorly in the past. I think we’re slowly but surely getting our cars better. Richmond is of course like all of our tracks, it’s very important to have a good chassis package on it” - Ward Burton, driver of the No. 22 Caterpillar Dodge

RICHMOND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO 400

BURTON ON RICHMOND…

“I like Richmond because you can run both grooves. I just think it makes for better racing. Somewhere like New Hampshire has always been tough to make outside passes. There’s really only one groove there. Some of the tracks are just shaped different than others. Bristol, Darlington and Richmond are pretty exciting because you can pass on the outside and start from the back and come to the front without much trouble. “We’re actually heading to Concord (NC) Motorsports Park on Wednesday to shake down a couple of cars and pick one of them. We’ve done that in the past and it’s helped, so we’re going to try it again. We’d like to be able to race a brand new car that the guys built. We’re going to test it first and make sure it’s going to run well and if not, we’ll bring the car that we ran at New Hampshire. We want to make sure we have a great car, so we can win the race and the million bucks.”

BURTON ON WINNING THE SOUTHERN 500…

“It’s one of the races that I’ve always wanted to win. It’s great to join the list of drivers that have won the Southern 500. It ranks up there as one of the biggest races of the year. It’s not just great for me, it’s great for everybody involved.

“It’s a huge morale booster for everybody at Bill Davis Racing. It makes a huge difference. Hopefully that will prove to some folks we’re talking to or may talk to in the future that we can get the job done. It takes some pressure off because we’re one of the teams that have won a race and have capitalized on having a great car. The entire CAT team has worked extremely hard this year. We might as well have started over when we made the switch to Dodge. It was a good decision and it’s a decision in the long run that’s really going to pay off for us, but there’s been a lot of effort put into it because of having to build new cars and new motors.”

Text provided by HK Stoddard

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