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NASCAR WCUP: Ward Burton prepares for another strong finish on the Cup circuit

25 April 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

BURTON ON CALIFORNIA

"California Speedway is a track where the Caterpillar Racing team runs very well. We ran in the top five for the entire race last year until Dale Jarrett got by us in the last five laps. The car seemed to be too tight for most of the race, but we've made changes to it and it should be great for this weekend's race. We're expecting big things this weekend. If we can improve on last year's finish, we'll have accomplished what we set out to do. We want to improve our finish at every track that we return to this year."

BALDWIN ON CALIFORNIA

"We're going to California with the same car that won at Darlington in March. In addition to winning at Darlington, it also finished third at Bristol and Rockingham. It is a great car and it is definitely capable of another great finish.

"California is a flatter Michigan and a bigger Homestead or Las Vegas. The flat, big tracks are conducive to ward's driving style. He runs extremely well at those types of tracks along with the high-banked ovals. We have a legitimate shot at the pole, but it is not our main focus. We approach each track with the desire to find a great race set-up and then we can concentrate on our qualifying effort. People have won from the back all year, so qualifying isn't important as far as that goes. It is important to qualify up front so you can get a decent pit stall."

WHAT THEY DID ON THEIR OFF-WEEKEND

"I planned to take the kids camping, real camping not motorhome camping," said Burton. "We weren't able to do that because the kids had ball games and then they wanted to go to church for Easter service. It's probably a good thing we didn't go camping because it ended up raining all weekend anyway."

"My wife and I went to New York to see my son," said Baldwin. "We got to spend some time together and that was wonderful. This business doesn't allow you to spend enough time with your families, so you have to take advantage of your time when you have it."

TEAM RELATED NEWS

Bill Davis Racing hopes to move into their new facility within the next three weeks. The new facility will house both NASCAR Winston Cup operations and the existing facility will become the new NASCAR Busch Series operation. Burton will compete in the NASCAR Busch Series event at California Speedway in the No. 22 Polaris Pontiac. He will utilize the same car that competed at Texas Motor Speedway.

Burton was nominated as the National Spokesperson for the Hunting & Fishing Day, which takes place in September. Burton beat out Carl Malone for the honors.

Text provided by HKStoddard

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