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1999 In Review
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Points: 5th
Wins: 6 (Las Vegas, Charlotte, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Darlington twice)
Poles: 1 (awarded via points)
Top 5s: 18
Top 10s: 23
Earnings: 5,163,301
What Went Right?
Mother Nature was riding with Jeff Burton twice in '99, as he won both rain-shortened Darlington races. The second triumph was worth an extra $1 million -- one of two No Bull 5 Bonus prizes Burton took home during the season. Burton led the Winston Cup points standings for six weeks, the first time he's done so in his six-year career. His six victories were also a career best.
What Went Wrong?
One word: Qualifying. The team just couldn't get the No. 99 dialed in when it came to producing a hot lap. Burton was awarded his only pole because he was the points leader when rain washed out California qualifying. He used seven provisional starting spots and his average starting position was 18.3. He also didn't finish three races and wound up outside the top 30 six times.
-- Ron Buck
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A gallon of milk ... a head of lettuce ... some butter ... toilet paper ... three cans of tuna ... a pound of ground beef ... a dozen bagels ... Oh, and she feels a little tight out of Turn 3, we might want to take a half wedge out at the next stop.
Huh?
Welcome to the mind of Jeff Burton during a Winston Cup Series race. Don't ask, even he has a difficulty explaining his thought process during some of those long Sunday afternoons in his Exide Ford. But as hard as it may be to imagine, Burton isn't always focused solely on the road in front of him.
He may be going 180 mph on the track, but his mind is racing.
I wonder if Kentucky beat Duke?
Do I need toothpaste?
Why can't I start up front, instead of just finish there?
"I concentrate really hard, but there are times when you can only concentrate so much," Burton explains. "When you aren't running the car on the edge and you don't have to get 120 percent out of it, you need to spend your time -- rather than sitting there doing nothing -- trying to learn something. So that when you do run at 120 percent, you can apply everything you've been learning. That's what I try to do."
And when the car is running perfectly and there is nothing to learn? Like when he was out front winning a career-best six races this season?
"Last year I got NCAA tournament basketball scores on the radio. I (also) gave my grocery list to my motor home driver on the radio," Burton admits. "Why not? I don't know if anyone else does it. I know I'm weird, and probably nobody else is as weird as me.
"But to me, if we can break it up just a little bit and have just a little fun, that makes what we do a whole lot more enjoyable. What we do at the race track is so intense and everybody is always on the edge -- 30 seconds of joking around lightens everyone up. You might has well use that as an advantage if you can."
A list Burton is proud to recite is his '99 accomplishments. Whether it was Burton's ability to keep the team loose, or just the natural progression of the No. 99 team, Burton solidified his place among the drivers to watch well into the 21st Century.
His six wins were twice as many as any previous season and his 18 top-5s trailed only champion Dale Jarrett, runner-up Bobby Labonte and Mark Martin. He won two straight No Bull 5 $1 million events (Coca-Cola 600 and Southern 500). He also held the Winston Cup points lead for six weeks -- the first time he topped the standings in his career -- before falling to fifth by the end of the season.
"We're excited about the future, but at the same time we know how hard this sport is," Burton said. "I feel good about 2000. All of our key people from last year are still in place. We feel like we are a team that is stronger than it's ever been and
we feel like we'll be better prepared than we've ever been. It's just up to us to get it done.
"We look to 2000 as a year of improving on what we did in '99. We ran better in 1999 than we ever have as a team. We did a lot more good things than we ever have done. But at the same time, we did more bad things than we ever did."
The bad usually came on Friday -- as in qualifying. Burton was an enigma when it came to turning in a fast lap. For someone who challenged for the Winston Cup crown well into the second half of the season, Burton started outside of the top 10 an amazing 23 times -- and he used provisional starting spots seven times.
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What About 2000?
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"I feel good about 2000. All of our key people from last year on still in place. We feel like we are a team that is stronger than it's ever been and we feel like we'll be better prepared than we've ever been. It's just up to us to get it done."
-- Jeff Burton
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But nobody charged through a field better than Burton in 1999 (sorry, Dale Earnhardt fans). In fact, one of his wins came after starting 38th in New Hampshire. Burton can't explain his lack of success in qualifying, and frankly isn't worried all that much about it. What concerns the younger brother of Ward Burton is his three DNFs and six finishes 30th or worse.
"Qualifying (at least) in the top 15 is good enough. Then you can win some poles," Burton said. "But if you can get up front by midway through the race, that qualifying position doesn't mean anything.
"We were a very fast team in (1999). The biggest thing we have to do is work on consistency. We really never ran poorly this year. We had some races where we didn't run that well, but we found a way to get decent finishes out of them for the most part. What really hurt us this year was we had too many wrecks and too many mechanical problems.
"We have to take those things out, because if you don't take those things out, no matter how many
races you win and how often you run up front, you won't win championships."
Win a championship is what Burton has been groomed to do since joining the Jack Roush stable in 1996. He's admits he's progressed past the stage of being able to surprise people with his results. But he also says his seasons haven't exactly been easy to predict. And that's what makes 2000 so interesting.
"We had a lot of expectations (in 1999). I think they are growing," Burton said. "In '97, I think we surprised a lot of people by finishing fourth (in points) and winning three races. That exceeded our expectations. In '98, it was probably a little less than expected. In '99, it was a little strange. It was more than expected in some areas and less than expected in other areas.
"So I think our expectations for next year are just to continue to run well and improve on the things that we
did wrong. Everything we were doing well, we have to continue to do well, and then we've got to eliminate those bad things."
One thing Burton won't stop doing is having fun. And that means more lists on Sunday.
... ice cream ... cheese ... two cans of peas ...
By the way, Jeff. Did you get everything on the list?
"No he screwed it up as usual."
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ALSO SEE
Gordon Spotlight: Entering a new era
Earnhardt Spotlight: Still intimidating
Wallace Spotlight: 'I'm still hungry'
Ward Burton: A foundation built for success
Skinner spotlight: Keeping 'big picture' in mind
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