NASCAR Cup

Pocono II: Jeff Burton preview

This Week's Caterpillar Chevrolet at Pocono Raceway ... Jeff Burton will race chassis No. 317 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable. Built brand new for 2010, this Caterpillar Chevrolet Impala will be put through its ...

Edited: Jul 29, 2010, 3:42 AM

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This Week's Caterpillar Chevrolet at Pocono Raceway ... Jeff Burton will race chassis No. 317 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable. Built brand new for 2010, this Caterpillar Chevrolet Impala will be put through its first paces this weekend.

Six to Go ... The 21-time Sprint Cup Series winner currently sits seventh in the championship point standings with six races remaining in NASCAR's "Race to the Chase." The 12 Chase contenders are determined once the checkered flag waves at Richmond International Raceway on Saturday, September 11. Despite sitting 305 markersbehind current point leader Kevin Harvick, Burton is 231 points forward of the Chase cutoff spot. Additionally, he is 43 markers in arrears to cracking the top five.

Last Time Around ... Burton and the No. 31 Caterpillar team ran inside the top 10 for most of the Gillette Fusion ProGlide 500 when NASCAR premier's division visited Pocono Raceway in June and overcame a rash of late-race cautions, pit gambles, and a broken left-front shock to finish seventh. The veteran driver ran 192 of the 204 laps contested inside the top 15 and earned the sixth-best driver rating of 107.9.

Welcome Home, Darin ... One member from the Cat Racing team hails from Pennsylvania. Car chief Darin Nestlerode grew up in Jersey Shore. In addition to his mechanic duties on the RCR entry, Nestlerode also holds the sign board during pit stops on race day. He and his wife Paula reside in Kernersville, N.C., and are heavily involved in the Triad Bloodhounds, a non-profit organization that trains K-9's in various areas: tracking lost persons, criminal tracking, cadaver, water recovery, explosive detection, article searches and weapon detection.

JEFF BURTON:

Describe a perfect lap at Pocono.

"Pocono is a challenging race track. The main struggle at Pocono is one of the three corners. A lot of teams will find two corners where they are good and then they'll have one corner where they are not so good. But, a perfect lap is being good in every corner and not sacrificing anything anywhere. Pocono is a very demanding race track physically and mentally. It's one of our toughest tests we have all year."

You finished seventh the last time you came to Pocono. What will it take to win your first race at the triangle race track?

"We ran really well and were competitive at Pocono last month. We had a bit of luck on our side late in the race when we broke a suspension component and ran around the track with three shocks. It was a lucky break but it was another opportunity that slipped through our fingers. We made the decision on how to build the shock and it ended up not being the right decision, so that's where we have to separate luck from our doing. It's another example of how we were fast and something got away from us that we have control of. Those are the things we have equity in and have to take responsibility. But, I was really happy with how we ran up until that occurrence. We were just a touch off the (No.) 11 but we have something we can build on."

-source: rcr

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