Kyle Busch is establishing himself as the new star in NASCAR Sprint Cup and Carl Edwards is the winningest driver so far this season.
Where does that leave Jeff Burton heading into Saturday night’s race at Richmond? Leading the points — right where he has been since finishing third at Martinsville on March 30.
It’s not really that big of a surprise that the Richard Childress Racing driver has been one of the most consistent drivers in Cup this year, winning at Bristol and finishing no worse than 13th in the first nine races. Consistency helped Burton finish seventh and eighth in the past two seasons, with 20 top-10 finishes in 2006 and 18 in 2007.
“I feel good about where we are,” Burton said after a 12th-place finish last Sunday at Talladega. “I feel good about the work we’re putting into our race cars. I feel good that we’re working hard to answer the challenge of being better as the year gets on.”
The 41-year-old Burton, in his 15th season in Cup and his fourth year with RCR, has never finished higher than third, with Roush Racing in 2000. But he isn’t ruling out a championship run.
“I can’t ask for a whole lot more from my team and I can’t ask for a whole lot more from myself,” he said. “We have to make sure we’re efficient and we have to make sure we continue to improve. If we do those things and have some fortune, then it can be our year.
“We can’t control what our competition is doing. Maybe they learn more than we do, I don’t know. We can only control what we do and, hopefully, we’re responding to the areas that we need to be stronger in. If we continue to do that then we’ll be all right.”
Awaiting wins.
Tony Stewart tends to win races in bunches, just not lately.
Though the two-time Cup champion is off to a decent start, ninth in the standings after the first nine races, he headed into Richmond riding a 23-race winless string.
Stewart has come close to winning several times during the skid that began last August at Michigan. But that isn’t much consolation for the driver of the No. 20 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing.
Nor is there comfort in knowing that new teammate Kyle Busch and returning JGR driver Denny Hamlin have already won this year.
“We don’t settle for anything less than winning races,” Stewart said. “When we know that we let one slip away, that’s something that we do let ourselves get down about, but that’s also what got us 32 (Cup) wins and two championships.
“We have such a high standard of what we feel our performance should be on the race track. I think that shows the caliber team that we have.”
If Stewart doesn’t seem worried, it’s because he and longtime crew chief Greg Zipadelli have been through this before.
They went 27 races without a win from midway through 2002 until the 14th race of 2003.
“We have the same passion, the same desire, the same frustrations,” Stewart said of Zipadelli. “We’re on the same playing field, side by side, on the way we think and feel about things.
“Not winning might add a little bit of stress, but if you look at Zippy’s past before he came to NASCAR, he was pretty successful.
“I had good fortune before I came here. I think we’ve both had good fortune since we’ve been here. It’s personalities. We’re not two guys that are going to sit back and be happy with second or third.”
Big bucks.
Cup drivers will vie for a record $6.6 million during the May 25 Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
The total posted awards for the track’s schedule of events this month is nearly $14.7 million.
Nine races will be run at Lowe’s and the dirt track across the street between May 16 and the featured race nine days later.
Already one of the richest races on the NASCAR circuit, the $6,648,557 in total awards for the Coca-Cola 600 is $78,929 more than was posted for last year’s event and $4,219,759 more than competitors raced for in the 600-mile event 10 years ago.
Air park.
Thanks to a huge remodeling project at McCarran International Airport, some fans visiting the Las Vegas Motor Speedway across town won’t have to drive through a cloud of dust.
The speedway is planning to pave 40 acres — roughly 30 percent — of its dirt and gravel parking areas with concrete chips milled from surfaces being replaced at McCarran.
“This is a prime example of two major entities in the community working together,” said LVMS general manager Chris Powell. “This will provide for much-improved dust-free parking for race fans who come to events here at the speedway.” McCarran is undergoing renovations at its B Gates.
Force field
When 25-year-old Ashley Force beat her father, John Force, in last Sunday’s final round at the NHRA Southern Nationals, it was the first time a woman won a national Funny Car event.
“I’m just proud of her as a woman to accomplish that,” said John Force, a 14-time NHRA champion.
“Shirley Muldowney led the way, not just for Ashley to win in Funny Car, but so many other women who are trying to be in this sport.
“Melanie Troxel is fighting every day . . . Hillary Will and Angelle (Sampey) . . . everybody. . . . And I just think now that (the NHRA Powerade Series) is just another place in history that can say, ‘Women are showing their stuff.’ And they beat this old man pretty good— even if it was my kid. I’m proud of her and I love her.”
The 58-year-old Force was trying for his 1,000th round win in his 500th career race. He got his first overall victory in his 75th career event and 10th final round. His daughter got her first overall win in her 27th career event and fourth final round.
“I would have liked to have had that (milestone), 500 (races) and then backed it up with (the 1,000th win),” he said. “But it’s also important in her career because it took me a lot of years to win and it’s good for her that she gets that win and gets it out of the way.”
Stat of the week.
The manufacturers’ competition in Sprint Cup has gotten really tight heading into Richmond, with Chevrolet leading Toyota by one point and third-place Ford just three points behind.
Fourth-place Dodge is hanging tough, too, trailing the leader by only 18 points.
The competition in the win column is just as tight, with Toyota and Ford tied for first with three victories apiece, Chevrolet next with two and Dodge one.
Mike Harris, The Associated Press
