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NASCAR WCUP: Ward Burton hopes to sweep at Darlington

30 August 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

"Darlington, besides Daytona, is the biggest place to win. This is the place that David Pearson, Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough and Bobby Allison were winning races at when I was growing up. To win where they've won is very rewarding." - Ward Burton

BURTON ON DARLINGTON

"Darlington has been a good track for me. My entire race team has been able to give me some good cars for Darlington. It is certainly a handling race track, so it is real important that we have a good car there. We're taking the same car back that we won with in March, so we're hoping that we'll have a dominating car like the one we had here last time."

"Darlington is a very abrasive race track and it eats tires up real fast. The lap times drop off incredibly after each passing lap. It will be real important that we have our car set-up to run well on long runs. If you can accomplish that, then you should be there at the end. We have run well at tracks where tire wear is an issue, like Rockingham and Darlington. We have been able to have a good set-up in the car and that manages the tire wear problem. The real key is to manage your car for long runs, but you can do that with a good handling package. Car set-up is of the utmost importance at tracks like Darlington, where tires get eaten up."

BURTON ON WINNING AT DARLINGTON

"I couldn't have thought of a better place to finally get that win. I used to camp near the track and attend the races there with my father, brothers and friends when I was younger. It is a very special track, one with a lot of history and one of the last of its type left on our circuit.

"We had a great car all day. Everything just went perfectly. The guys on pit road did their job, Tommy did a good job calling the race and getting a set-up in the car and all I had to do was make it 400 miles. It would be even better if we could get another win there this weekend. We have the car and we have the team to get that done."

Text provided by Heidi Stoddard

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