Team: Roush Racing
Car/sponsor/make: No. 99 Citgo Ford
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| | Burton |
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STATS
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Year
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Rank
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Wins
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Top 5
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Top 10
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Best finish
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2002
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12
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0
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5
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14
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Third, three times
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Career
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17
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86
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133
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First, 17 times
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2002 recap
The good: It was a trying year for Burton, without question. That he managed to finish 12th in the season standings despite all the adversity he faced is a testament to Burton's attitude of never giving up, no matter how dire things look. One other bright spot is he passed the $25 million mark in career Winston Cup earnings. He failed to finish just five races all season, three due to mechanical reasons and two others due to crashes.
Season highlight: Burton struggled in qualifying at most races this past season. But, for the most part, he managed to salvage decent finishes from the majority of his mediocre starts: Of the 24 races he started 20th or lower, he finished in the top-10 eleven times and the top-15 four other times. One other highlight is Burton and new crew chief Paul Andrews really clicked together in the latter part of the season: in the team's final nine races, Burton recorded some of his best racing of the season, with two top-5, two top-10 and three top-15 finishes.
The bad: Burton had a number of things go wrong for him in 2002. First, he failed to win at least one race in a season for the first time since 1996. Second, his 12th-place finish was his worst, and the first outside of the top-10, also since 1996. Third, his continued struggles eventually forced the ouster of long-time crew chief Frank Stoddard in September. Stoddard was replaced by Paul Andrews, who will return for his first full season as crew chief in 2003.
Season lowlight: Burton's worst race of the season was the Coca Cola 600 on Memorial Day at Charlotte, an event he had previously won two other times. Burton recorded his second-best qualifying effort of the season (8th), but engine problems knocked him out of the race after just 225 of the scheduled 400 laps, giving him his worst finish of the season (40th). One other lowlight was at Sonoma, Calif., where he notched his best qualifying position of the season (3rd), only to drop off and finish a disappointing 29th.
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| Jeff Burton hopes to contend for the title again in 2003. |
Key stat: When Burton finished 39th at Texas in April, he dropped five points in the standings, from 9th-place to 14th. He would climb back into the top-10 only once more in the rest of the season, returning to 9th-place in the standings after finishing 6th in the spring race at Pocono. However, he'd drop back out of the top-10 for the rest of the season the following week after finishing 20th at Michigan.
2003 outlook
What needs to be done: Given the success Burton and Andrews had in the closing stages of the season, everyone on the No. 99 team has to be excited and optimistic going into 2003. Like some marriages, the Burton-Stoddard combo had run its course, for the most part. It was time to bring in some new blood, in the person of Andrews, to give the team a much-needed spark. Because team owner Jack Roush has a tendency to throw more energy and effort into those teams of his that perform the worst in the previous season, look for Burton to rebound in a big way, much like 2002 season runner-up Mark Martin did after finishing 12th in 2001.
Prediction: Having both failed to win a race and suffering his worst season since 1996, Burton will be a man on a mission in 2003. His strengths are wide-open ovals like Daytona (Fla.), New Hampshire and Charlotte, and short tracks like Martinsville (Va.) and Bristol (Tenn.). He could go a long way towards making 2003 a success with a strong finish in the season-opening Daytona 500, of which older brother Ward is defending champion. If things click optimally, look for Burton to finish in the top-10 in the 2003 final standings, for sure, with the potential even to make it back into the top-5. If there was ever a dark horse to win the Winston Cup championship, Burton could very well be riding the top steed in 2003.
Your take
Can Jeff Burton rebound to score an overall top-10 finish and possibly compete for a championship in 2003? Here are your thoughts.
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