| | Associated Press
RICHMOND, Va. -- Jeff Burton could do no wrong on a busy Friday night at Richmond International Raceway.
The Virginia driver started things off with a rare pole-winning
qualifying run in the Winston Cup series, and capped the night with
a runaway victory in the Autolite/FRAM 250 Busch Series race.
Burton, who won only his second career pole position in 214 attempts in NASCAR's premier series just before driver introductions for the Busch series event, started second and led four times for 198 of the 250 laps.
"It's been an awfully good day," the South Boston native said
after his third series victory this year. "It doesn't get a whole
lot better."
The victory was the 13th of Burton's Busch career, matching his
total of Winston Cup victories. It came by 0.935 seconds over Busch
points leader Jeff Green. Mark Martin, Burton's Roush Racing
teammate, was third.
The victory from the front doesn't mean anything for Saturday night's main event, Burton said, but having run the laps could be beneficial.
"The biggest thing about tonight is that I was on the race
track. I got 250 laps of running and that always helps," he said.
"Other guys were laying in their motor homes watching on TV while
I was out here doing it.
"I think that's an advantage."
Burton won $37,675 for his second career Busch victory at Richmond and his third in the series this season.
"Thank goodness the 10 car wasn't as good as he was early in
the race. If he was, he would have run us down and beat us,"
Burton said of Green, who extended his Busch championship lead to
649 points over Jason Keller.
"This has just been an awesome season," said Green, who has 20
top-five finishes in 26 races with six events remaining on the
schedule.
"You've got to wear it out when you've got one like that," Green said of racing to win despite his enormous lead in the title chase.
"Jeff was just a touch better, but we were so close. If we'd
have beaten him out of the pits, we might have been able to hold
him off."
The race out of the pits came after Ron Hornaday and Mark McFarland crashed in the front stretch on lap No. 165, bringing out the final caution and sending the leaders to the pits while several cars stayed out.
The moves gave the race lead to Jimmy Spencer, but Spencer
didn't last long on older tires. Burton, ninth on the restart, made
short work of the field, retaking the lead with 66 laps to go and
never getting pushed.
"Racing with Jimmy Spencer was a helluva lot of fun," Burton
said of the side-by-side duel that lasted for two laps. "He's
tough."
Pole-sitter Todd Bodine was passed by Martin on the final lap
and wound up fourth, followed by Kevin Grubb of nearby
Mechanicsville.
The second five included Kenny Wallace, Dick Trickle, Matt
Kenseth, Spencer and David Green.
Defending race champion Dale Earnhardt Jr. did not race this
year.
The race was typically feisty for the Busch Series at Richmond,
with the first caution flag flying before 30 laps were on the board
and the crashes continuing almost throughout. In all, seven
accidents brought out the yellow flag, slowing the pace for 54 laps
and retiring four cars.
Burton averaged 89.203 mph.
| |
ALSO SEE
Busch Autolite-FRAM 250 results
Burton grabs first pole in four years in Richmond
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Jeff Burton takes the checkered flag.
avi: 761 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Mark Martin passes Todd Bodine on the final turn for third place.
avi: 964 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
|
