NASCAR Martinsville With Ward Burton

 	
            WARD BURTON (No. 22 Caterpillar Dodge Intrepid R/T)
            NOTE: Burton, a 40-year-old driver from South Boston, Va., has
had his share of rotten luck since opening the season with a victory in the
Daytona 500.  He's finished 31st, 25th and 43rd in the past three races and
dropped from seventh to 15th in the NASCAR Winston Cup Standings. Burton is
still only 75 points behind 10th-place Bill Elliott, driver of the No. 9
Dodge Dealers Intrepid R/T and 320 behind points leader Sterling Marlin,
driver of the No. 40 Coors Light Dodge Intrepid R/T. Burton finished third
last October at Martinsville.

         "Martinsville has been up and down for us. Our short track program,
particularly with (crew chief) Tommy Baldwin and I working together and the
support group he's got at the shop has improved a lot. We know that's a
place where we can run well. You need everything at Martinsville. It's like
everywhere else we go. You've got to have it all sitting under you and at
the same time have some patience and go with the flow a little bit. Last
year it was probably one of the most consistent runs we've ever had at
Martinsville. We ran in the top five and top 10 most of the day.
	"The first race last year at Martinsville, we didn't have our motor
combination where we could run at all. Hat's off to Terry Elledge and his
guys because they made a huge amount of progress from the first race there
to the second race. That was a lot of the reason why we ran so much better
in the second race.
	"You've got all kind of different ways to tune the motor. We all try
to tune for certain driving styles, whether it's with carburetor or linkages
or rear end gears.
	"It's a good place for us to run well, that's for sure.
	"We've slipped, but it's not because we haven't been running well.
At Las Vegas our strategy just didn't work. We had a top three-car or maybe
the top car at Darlington and we got caught in a wreck. At Bristol, it was
mechanical. All three times the car was running in the top 10 or top five
and we led leaps at two of those races. It wasn't anything to do with how we
ran. It was just circumstances we couldn't control, just like last Monday at
Texas.
	"I've got a lot of confidence in my team. I know we can get the job
done. We haven't had a good month. Some of that was in our control and we
need to learn from it and some of it wasn't. We haven't got turned around or
anything, and we're not expecting that. Our philosophy changed a little bit
on that . What's good for the goose is good for the gander. We're going to
make damn sure that we keep to that this year. I've got a "I don't give a
damn attitude" a little bit. At the same time, I respect the competitors,
but they've got to drive me like I drive them. 
	"I think some of the drivers that caused a lot of the wrecks last
year have matured a little bit. I've got to finish the race first before I
can win the race. That's my philosophy. I'll complain and moan and groan a
little bit about the car until we get it to where it can lead the race and
I'll try to be there the last 50 miles or 50 laps and hopefully have a shot
at it or a competitive run. That's what I try to do every week. To go out
there and get myself in trouble midway through the race is about as
ludicrous as saying I'm tired of racing and I've got a headache so I'm going
to bring it into the pits. I want to finish the races. We've got to finish
the races. We don't learn anything as a team if the car is sitting on the
truck. Sometimes it's all out of your control, but it's very aggravating.
Like at Darlington, there was a little bit of impatience by two people to
cause a wreck. That's racing. Buckshot knew he was going a lap down and he
should have been using his head a little bit more driving, at the same time,
somebody should have been telling Tony that a car in front of him was
struggling. We got into that wreck, and we don't blame anybody for it. It's
just the impatience and lack of respect by some of the competitors. I think
that most of us don't need to tolerate it. NASCAR doesn't need to tolerate
it, either.
	"I've been real lucky at Bristol. I haven't gotten in a wreck there
in quite a while. Martinsville is a place that you always have to look out
in front of you and stay on your toes. At the same time, when they put in
the pit walls all the around the race track, they took away some area to
miss wrecks from. Even if you had to run over the curb, it's better than
running over another car. You've got to be on your toes there because
there's not a lot of room to miss a wreck. We've been lucky there to stay
out of trouble, too."