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| | Sunday, November 5 Leffler finishes second from pole | |||||
| Associated Press AVONDALE, Ariz. -- Jeff Burton overpowered the field in the Outback Steakhouse 200 at Phoenix International Raceway on Saturday. The Winston Cup regular earned his fourth Busch Series victory in 13 starts this season, leading 148 of the 200 laps on the 1-mile oval and giving Roush Racing its 12th victory in 31 races. Burton's teammates Mark Martin and Matt Kenseth have won five and four races, respectively, this year. Rookie Jason Leffler, whose Pontiac started from the pole and led a total of 42 laps, came up with a career-best second, finishing 0.962 seconds -- about six car-lengths -- behind Burton's Ford. "These guys did a great job in the pits and made us look a little more dominant than we really were," Burton said. "I really think Jason was faster than we were, but the pit stops made the difference." Leffler, whose best previous finish was seventh at Pikes Peak, agreed that pit stops were the difference. "I messed up both times getting into my pit box and it cost us some time," he said. In the waning laps, Burton, who had built leads of up to nearly two seconds, used up his brakes and got caught up in heavy traffic, allowing Leffler to close up a bit. "I ran the brakes off and had no brakes at the end," Burton said. "I wanted to make sure we got through traffic. I felt if he ever got up to us, we'd be in trouble. I was really glad when the race was over." Mike Skinner finished third, followed by Jeff Green, who clinched the series championship a week earlier, Ron Hornaday and Kenseth. Martin, who will retire from the Busch Series after racing in next Saturday's season-ending race in Homestead, Fla., did not run at Phoenix. With only one caution flag for five laps, Burton averaged 115.415 mph. | ALSO SEE Outback Steakhouse 200 results AUDIO/VIDEO   ESPN's Whit Watson talks with the man who dominated Phoenix this weekend, Jeff Burton.RealVideo: 28.8   Rookie Jason Leffler was pleased with his second place finish.wav: 72 k RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6 Mike Skinner comments on his third place finish.wav: 105 k RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6 | |||||