NASCAR WCUP: Southern 500 Post Race Quotes, Jeff Burton
5 September 2000
Posted By Terry
Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
|
JEFF BURTON PRESS CONFERENCE
HOW WAS YOUR DAY? "It was eventful. We were really good to start the race. We came in and had a bad pit stop and went all the way back to like 23rd. We came in ninth and went out 23rd, that was pretty depressing. Then we weren't good. We were actually terrible for a while. We kept working, kept working and at the end of the race we were pretty good. We came in running second and the way the rule works here, the leader can't pass the pace car, so the leader is actually going slower than pit road speed and everybody stacks up behind him going slower than pit road speed. Bobby Labonte is on that end of pit road, so he was able to come in faster than everybody else and that's why he beat us out of the pits. We had a 14.5-second pit stop and we got beat out of the pits because of pit position. At most race tracks you want to be in turn one, at this race track it's a huge advantage to be in turn four. It wouldn't surprise me the next race to see the pole-sitter pick that first pit because all day long he picked up spots. My spotter is yelling, 'He's speeding on pit road, he's speeding,' but I'm going 1,000-RPM slower than pit road speed and that's what won the race for them. I mean, they had a great pit stop, I'm not trying to take anything away from them. They did a great job and they took advantage of the position that they were put in."
IS THE EXIT TO PIT ROAD? "It's because of the entrance of pit road. The entrance of pit road, there's a blend line. You can pull up and you can't pass the pace car, but if you're pitted on that end, you don't have to go as slow for long. It's just an advantage."
WAS THERE A TIME YOU THOUGHT IT WAS TOO DANGEROUS BECAUSE OF THE DARKNESS? "No." CAN YOU COMMENT ON YOUR CHANGES WITH THE PIT CREW DURING THE RACE? "Well, we borrowed some of Richard Childress' guys. About a month ago we had to let a guy go, one of our tire changers, so we brought a substitute in this week -- not an employee of Roush Racing, but kind of stuck the guy in the fire and he didn't have much time to practice with our tire carrier. They tried real hard, they just didn't have enough time to practice and we felt like it was real important to have good pit stops and after the first stop we elected to make a change there. You hate to do that because everybody tries as hard as they can try, but this is professional sports and when you've got a young guy that you think is gonna be a good receiver, but he's not doing a good job on that day, then you sit him down and let him think about it and he'll come back stronger the next day. That's what we did today."
IF NOTHING IS DONE AT NEW HAMPSHIRE IN TWO WEEKS WILL YOU DRIVE? "We'll certainly run there. My sponsor, my car owner and everybody that I work for expects me to show up and do my deal and we'll certainly be there."
IS THIS RACE AN INDICATION IT MIGHT BE BOBBY'S YEAR? "Bobby is a great race car driver and he's got a great race team. What Bobby and his team have done all year long is take advantage of the positions that they've been put in and they did that again today. They've made very few mistakes. They've been very consistent. They've run in the front and they've done that with very few wrecks and very few mechanical problems and that's why they're the point leader. Certainly, we're right there with them in the last three months. We've actually gained some points on them, but we didn't do it early in the year. They've been able to put a string together for the whole year and it's very impressive what they've been able to do."
ANY SURPRISE WARD PITTED ON THAT FINAL CAUTION AND DID YOU TALK ABOUT STAYING OUT? "Frank thought about staying out. He was contemplating it, but it was more just a thought, it wasn't a consideration. It was more of just a thought. It didn't surprise me. Everybody pitted. I mean, you can't tell if it's gonna rain or not. Hell, it's dark, you can't see anything."
BUT YOU HAVE RADAR IN YOUR PITS. "Yeah, but the radar is showing green the whole time and it's not raining."
Text provided by Ford Motorsports
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