An aggressive Jeff Burton shattered Darlington Raceway's track record Wednesday during a private testing session leading up to the March 24 TranSouth Financial 400 NASCAR Winston Cup Series race. Driving a Roush Racing Ford wrenched by crew chief Buddy Parrott, Burton circled NASCAR's original superspeedway unofficially in 28.73 seconds at 171.166 mph. The official mark (28.78 seconds, 170.833 mph) is held by 1995 NASCAR Winston Cup champion Jeff Gordon. "That was as aggressive a lap as this place can take," said an elated Burton, who made the effort in the same car that he failed to make the field with in the Purolator 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. "I don't think you can go any faster than that here. It doesn't count today, but boy does it give us momentum when we come back." Burton was joined by seven fellow NASCAR Winston Cup drivers, who were all close to the record. Burton's brother, Ward, was second at 170.631 mph, followed by 1996 Daytona 500 winner Dale Jarrett (170.454 mph), Steve Grissom (170.355 mph), Bobby Hamilton (170.159 mph), Geoff Bodine (169.689 mph), Elton Sawyer (169.989 mph) and Randy MacDonald (163.592). Four NASCAR Busch Series cars tested for the March 23 DURA-LUBE 200 Presented by Pep Boys. Jarrett was quickest at 162.996 mph, which unofficially bettered the Busch Series track record of 162.904 mph, set by Tim Fedewa last season. Jeff Fuller (162.297 mph), Grissom (161.497 mph) and Mike Dillon (159.376 mph) completed the foursome. The run for the Busch Pole Award for both the TranSouth Financial 400 and DURA-LUBE 200 is Friday, March 22, beginning at 2 p.m. For ticket information call 803-395-8499.
