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NASCAR WCUP: Ward Burton expects 'side-by-side' racing for 500 miles at Talladega

13 April 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

"The cars have slowed up considerably with the new restrictor plate they have mandated. We'll really be bunched up now. We'll stay side-by-side for the entire race. That will make for an exciting race for the fans, but a nerve racking race for the drivers." - Ward Burton BURTON ON TALLADEGA

"The new shock rules have made the car very stable. It shakes a little in the front and a little in the rear, but comparably it is much better than it was at Daytona. At Daytona, we couldn't adjust on the front or rear shocks and that made it difficult to get the car handling to my liking. You basically had to drive what was under you. We're using the same shocks on the rear that we used at Daytona. Changing the front shocks has made it possible to adjust and allow us to be that much better than the next guy.

"NASCAR will give us a smaller plate when we get to Talladega. It is 1/16 smaller than what we're used to running. That cut about 25-40 horsepower off the motor. The fastest we ever ran while testing last week was a 51.74. That's almost one second slower than we used to run there. I think that they were concerned with slowing the cars down and making it safer for the fans and the competitors."

BURTON ON MARTINSVILLE

"We got penalized for leaving a right side tire out after one of the very first pit stops. That caused us to go to the back of the field. Track position is so important at that track. Once you get behind, it is very hard to make up that track position. Tommy made a good call by staying out and we took the lead. Late in the race we got buried in lapped traffic and we couldn't make up that ground before the race ended. We'll take an 11th place finish and move onto Talladega."

BALDWIN ON TALLADEGA

"We built a new car for this weekend's race, but it wasn't as good as the one we ran at Daytona so we'll use our Daytona car. We tested both cars down here last week and we were more impressed by the old one. We need to keep up the consistency we have shown so far this season. Talladega is tough place and will it be more difficult with the cars all bunched up for the whole race."

Text provided by HKStoddard

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