Daytona 500 2000 - CAT team should claws its way into contention

CAT team should claws its way into contention
ESPN The Magazine

'99 EARNINGS: $2,115,824 | POINTS: 9th | WINS: 0 | TOP 5: 6 | TOP 10: 16

WARD BURTON

What Makes Him Go: Besides Baldwin, Burton's biggest asset is his Pontiac Grand Prix. The car has several seasons under its hood, whereas the new models Ford and Chevy are introducing will likely suffer growing pains. "I think it will be good for us," says Davis. "I think we'll be going into this season with the best car, just because it's a proven piece. I wouldn't want to trade with anybody."
What Makes Him Slow: Burton has struggled at flat tracks, from the small oval at Martinsville to the mile oval at New Hampshire to the big speedway at Pocono. His combined finish in nine flat-track races in 1999 was 21, compared to his overall average finish of 16. The team's testing efforts this year will, understandably, focus on the flats.
Key Stat: 6 Burton's total of six top-five finishes in 1999 doubled his previous career best, set in 1995 after joining Davis for the season's last nine races. And before his three seconds last season, he only had two runner-up finishes in his career to go along with one win.

Much has been made of Ward Burton's "breakthrough" season in 1999. But his first top-10 finish in the Winston Cup standings shouldn't have taken anyone by surprise.

Burton has quietly climbed NASCAR's ranks since 1996, his first full season racing the No. 22 Pontiac for Bill Davis. He's gone from 33rd in '96 to 24th in '97 and to 16th in '98. He cracked the top 10 in '99, coming homeo ninth.

Yet even after another big step up in the rankings, Burton and his team look back and see a woulda-coulda-shoulda season. He led a career-high 243 laps and finished second three times, but he didn't win a race. And the galling thing about those seconds was that he was beaten in every single one of them by his little brother, Jeff. (That's okay, Ward -- mom and dad still love you.)

But Burton the Elder and team have momentum on their side.

By the end of the season, Ward was running at or near the front just about every weekend. He finished no worse than 14th in his final nine races, including three straight top-fives in October. He started the stretch run 11th in points, but pulled himself up two more spots.

Burton's secret weapon is crew chief Tommy Baldwin Jr., who infused the team with a new spirit the moment he arrived late in the 1998 season. By mid-1999, Baldwin was so highly regarded that he was tabbed by Ray Evernham as his successor to become Jeff Gordon's crew chief. After agonizing over the opportunity, Baldwin decided to stay with Burton.

Theirs is an unlikely Yankee-Rebel pairing.

Baldwin, from Long Island, is the son of Tom Baldwin, a rough veteran of the NASCAR modified tour. Tom Jr. is quietly intense and confident. Burton, from the rolling hills of southern Virginia, is both gregarious and mellow, with a manner that belies his military school background.

When you hear Baldwin's New York twang mix with Burton's ultra-thick Virginia accent, your first thought is to call for a translator. But this pair communicates just fine in the language of racing.

"The biggest thing that Tommy brings to the team is enthusiasm," says owner Davis. "Technically, he's strong. He knows his cars well. He knows racing. But the biggest thing he brings is leadership. It's all about people and chemistry in this series, and chemistry is what he brings.

We're still racing the same car we've been racing for a long time now. He just has the ability to get guys motivated and all pulling in the same direction."

Burton won his first and only Winston Cup race at Rockingham in 1995 -- and he's tired of waiting for his second champagne shower. Plus he's tired of getting beat by his younger brother.

I he continues to improve this season the way he has the last four, corks will finally pop for big brother Burton again.

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