| | Associated Press
RICHMOND, Va. -- Jeff Burton has been viewed as a rising star in Winston Cup racing since Jack Roush hired him as Mark Martin's teammate in in 1995.
And with 12 career victories, including one in the third race this season at Las Vegas, Burton has established himself as a potential future series champion.
Now, in a season where parity has come to the series like never before, producing a record 10 different winners in as many events, Burton expects someone to make a move on the field soon, and he sees the opportunity.
"I do think there's some value in having a team that is the pinnacle team, the team that everybody sets out to beat because part of the excitement for a fan is not only pulling for somebody, but pulling against somebody else," Burton said.
"People go to the race track not only to cheer for Dale Earnhardt, but to boo Jeff Gordon or Jeff Burton. That's part of what's fun about Winston Cup racing."
As a native of South Boston, about two hours from Richmond, Burton would be more than happy to break the string of different winners before home state fans in Saturday night's Pontiac Excitement 400 at Richmond International Raceway.
He's fourth in points, trailing leader Bobby Labonte by 120, No. 2 Martin by 100 and No. 3 Ward Burton, his older brother, by 47.
"The door is open," Jeff Burton said. "Somebody can be that guy and that's what we're trying to do. We're trying to get ourselves together and be the guy that breaks out and starts winning races because somebody's going to do it."
Last year, it was this event that turned the points race. Burton arrived with a six-week hold on the lead, lost his transmission early and then lost the points lead when Dale Jarrett went on to win. Jarrett never gave up the lead again.
"Somebody will take control, and in a year like this where nobody has been as on top of the game as they need to be, if somebody does do it, they could get out on everybody," Burton said. "That's what Jarrett did last year."
Rusty Wallace knows well the idea of using Richmond to get a championship bid off the ground. When he won his only championship in 1989, he won both races on the three-quarter-mile oval, and he's since added four more victories here.
Wallace also has focused on short-track racing this year. He won at Bristol, Tenn., on March 26, and dominated at Martinsville two weeks later before a late race pit stop series left him with a suddenly mediocre car that finished 10th.
"After what we went through at Martinsville, it'd sure be nice to bounce back at Richmond and put the whole deal together," he said. Wallace has 16 top-5 and 20 top-10 finishes in the 23 races since the track was reconfigured in 1988.
"We've had a lot of dominant wins at Richmond, and we can do it again."
Tony Stewart also arrived here with the hope that history will repeat itself. He won here last fall, beginning a late-season surge in which he won twice more, but has struggled thus far this season with just three top-5 finishes.
"I think that with the way our season is going, we have to look at it like it's just another race," Stewart said. "But it's going to be hard to not have it in the back of your mind that this is where you won your first Cup race."
First-round qualifying to set the first 25 positions in the field is slated for 5:30 p.m. Friday, just prior to the Hardee's 250 Busch Grand National. The Pontiac 400 is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. | |
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