Burton Get's Her Done This Time, Wins At Bristol

	Enter your search termsSubmit search form
	Web Insiderracingnews.com

CIA Stock Photo Burton Celebrates Late Gift To Win Food City 500

On a last lap pass, a door opened Jeff Burton drove his Richard Childress Chevrolet through it to win the Food City 500. Leader Denny Hamlin ran out of fuel and Burton, who was running fifth with three laps to go. There were guys with old tires, like Dale Earnhardt Jr., Denny Hamlin and Tony Stewart and the there were guys Like Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton, Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth who had four brand new tires, so you could almost see what was going to happen. Harvick drove in too hard, as a guy with new tires would want to, but then pushed up the track, wrecking Stewart.

“I thought I left him plenty of room, but I don’t know," said Stewart. "I was far enough ahead of him that I didn’t see where he hit me or when he hit me. I’m sure some how it was my fault. I’m just sorry I got in his way.”

Stewart led six times for 267 laps to earn WIX Filters Lap Leader of the Race honors today’s Food City 500. Stewart has led at least one lap in three of the five Sprint Cup races this season for a total of 289 laps and claimed WIX Filters Lap Leader of the Race honors for the first time this season.

This was with two laps to go and it set up a green-white-checkers finish. Hamlin was leading on the restart and got a good jump on the field but his engine sputtered from gas starvation on the second turn. It was a scramble for the lead from there and Burton emerged as the take charge guy. Burton's teammate, Harvick was second, and running third was the third Childress car with Clint Bowyer as the driver. It was the first 1-2-3 finish for Childress Racing.

Greg Biffle drove his Roush Racing Ford to the fourth spot and Dale Earnhardt Jr. turned in another top-five finish.

"Well, we need to start the race a little bit better than we did," said Earnhardt. "We worked really hard today. I am pretty proud of my team. We had a pretty good car yesterday; to start where we did; work as hard as we did, to not get tires there at the end to try and win the race, I am a little disappointed. I have to give it to Tony, Jr. (Eury) and guys for working so hard and dialing this car in. I give those guys a lot of credit, they built me a good race car and I am real proud to drive it."

Hamlin managed to keep his engine running, and although it was sputtering, finished on the lead lap in sixth place.

“Another really frustrating day for us," Hamlin said. "I know I could have held those guys off there at the end, but we were either out of fuel or it was a fuel pickup problem like we had here last year. By all of calculations were good on fuel to the end, including a green -white-checkered, but we just couldn't seem to pick all of it up. It's been that kind of season for us -- we can't get a break. It's really too bad because we had a great FedEx Express Camry today. We led a bunch of laps, and then had to battle all the way back to have a shot at the end. Once we got it, we just couldn't finish it off.”

Kasey Kahne was seventh followed by a fantastic run by rookie Aric Almirola, David Gilliland and Matt Kenseth to round out the top ten.

Jeff Burton described the late win to the media after the race. “Oh, I thought, not again,"said Burton. "It was the same exact scenario as last year, just a different car in front of me. And I thought, ‘Oh, God, not this again.’ But obviously (Kevin) Harvick and (Tony) Stewart got together there and that opened the door for me to squeeze in. Then Hamlin, don't know if he ran out of gas or what happened there, he quit and we kept going there. I almost ran him over. He stopped so quick, I almost ran him over. I was on new tires; leader is sitting there on old tires. I thought all winter and off-season we did the right thing. Some people questioned it, but I did the right thing and those things come back to you. And then I don’t know if he ran out of gas or what happened but he quit and we kept going. It worked out.”

Regan Smith scored a 26th-place finish in today’s race at Bristol, his best effort of the 2008 season for Raybestos Rookie.

All three Michael Waltrip Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams are locked into the top 35 in owner points following race number five that took place today at Bristol Motor Speedway.

David Reutimann’s 20th-place finish positioned the #00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry team 27th in owners points (26th in driver points).

“We did what we set out to do,” Reutimann said. “Michael Waltrip Racing executives held a meeting before the start of the season and getting locked into the top 35 after Bristol was one of our primary goals. It feels good to be able to reach one of our objectives. Now, we have to stay there.”

Michael Waltrip also locked his #55 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry in the top 35 with a 23rd-place finish. Waltrip is 30th in owner points (30th in driver points) heading into Martinsville Speedway next week.

“Michael can breathe a little easier and so can I knowing we are locked in going into Martinsville,” Reutimann said.

Dale Jarrett competed in his last point’s race of his career today. Jarrett drove to a 37th-place finish, which was good enough to hold onto 34th-place in the owners points (34th in driver points).

“Well, it wasn’t the finish I would have liked,” Jarrett said. “I’m able to go out with the best sponsor in the business in UPS and I would have liked to have had a better day for them.”

“Dale has had an incredible career and I’m going to miss him as a teammate,” Reutimann said. “I’m so glad he’ll be back with us for the Sprint All-Star race in May.”

As Jarrett hands over the #44 UPS Toyota Camry to Reutimann at Martinsville Speedway, Michael McDowell makes his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut in the #00 Toyota Camry in two weeks.

“I’m glad we’re going to a short track because it is a little more forgiving -- you can get beat and banged up and you can back it into the fence and still keep going,” McDowell said. “I feel like it gives us an opportunity to maybe make a few more mistakes than you normally could. I’m really thankful we are leaving here with all Michael Waltrip Racing cars locked into the top 35.”

The Sprint Cup Series is off next week and will return to the track on Sunday March 20th, 2008 at Martinsville Speedway for the Goody's Cool Orange 500.


For full final race results...     (Insider Racing News)
For top-40 Nextel Cup drivers points...     (Insider Racing News)

	Enter your search terms Submit search form
	Web Insiderracingnews.com