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Sunday, May 27
Burton, Roush hoping for turn of tides
By Jerry Bonkowski
ESPN.com

CONCORD, N.C. – Tony Stewart may have had an intravenous needle stuck in his arm to keep him hydrated and to give him nourishment as he flew between Indianapolis and Charlotte, but it was Jeff Burton that wound up with the real shot in the arm after winning Sunday night's Coca-Cola 600.

While Stewart has had more than his share of media attention this season, Burton had become one of the most forgotten men in Winston Cup.

Lack of performance and poor finishes will do that to you. It's just surprising that Burton and his Citgo Ford dropped so quickly, from being considered a legitimate contender at the start of the season to becoming nothing more than an also-ran for most of the first third of the 2001 campaign.

The same Jeff Burton who finished third in last season's Cup standings had been saddled with nothing but bad luck from the start of the season. That's why he was ranked 25th in the Cup standings coming into the 600.

The same can be said, for the most part, about the rest of the four-car Roush Racing operation, with the exception of Matt Kenseth, who has been the sole shining light for the entire team in 2001, entering Sunday's race in 11th place in the standings.

I liken what's happened to Roush Racing to all the failures in the dot.com world. For a while, the Roush operation was riding high, garnering success and good fortune. But when the bottom dropped out, it dropped out hard and fast.

That's why Sunday night's win in the Coca-Cola 600 is not only a boost for Burton, it's the biggest uplifting experience of the season for the whole team. And with Mark Martin finishing fourth (Kurt Busch was 12th and Kenseth was 18th), maybe, just maybe, the fortunes of the once-dominating Roush Racing team will finally start to turn around and head back on the upswing.

Everyone at Roush Racing knows that one race is not going to fix the problems that have beset the entire team in the first third of the season. If Lady Luck becomes their friend now, they'll still need close to another one-third of the season just to right the wrongs and misfortunes that have occurred prior to Sunday.

The win allowed Burton to jump only four positions in the Cup standings, from 25th to 21st. Likewise, Martin went from 21st to 18th. That's how far back they still are despite Sunday's end results.

There's still a very, very long way to go.

When I asked Jack Rousch earlier what has been the reason for the entire team's struggles, Roush simply said, "I wish I knew. It's not for lack of trying or hard work, I'll tell you that."

Burton's first win on the circuit since last year's Phoenix event, and the 16th of his Winston Cup career could not have come at a better time. He drove a savvy race, waiting for others to make mistakes or to have misfortune and bad luck befall them, rather than the way it has been for the first part of the season, where the misfortune, mistakes and bad luck usually befell Burton first. He capitalized on that strategy and was able to cash in at the end. It's the second time in three years that Burton has won the Coca-Cola 600.

Ironically, the 600 is also the longest race on the Cup circuit each season, a trying test of both mental and physical endurance. The race starts out in the late afternoon, when the sun is still shining, winds its way through shadows and dusk, and winds up with a nighttime finish.

As a result, the track conditions at Lowe's Motor Speedway change more in the four-plus hours of racing than they do at virtually any other track on the circuit. You go from heat to cool, from bright sunlight to bright grandstand lighting. And with the changing track conditions come constant changes and alterations in game plans, pit strategy, fuel mileage and tire wear.

The team that can put all those elements together winds up the winner, plain and simple.

And that's exactly what Burton, crew chief Frank Stoddard and Roush all wound up doing Sunday. After fighting misfortune and bad luck for so long this season, you would think wholesale changes would have been made by now. But instead, the Burton-Stoddard-Roush triumvirate have stuck to their guns and not really deviated too much in strategy, focus or planning from race to race in 2001.

"We came here and said the heck with what everybody else in the garage is doing," Burton said. "This is the first time we've been on our game this year."

To Burton, Stoddard, Roush and the rest of the team, it was just a matter of time before what didn't work the week before finally worked the week after. It was just a matter of time before good fortune and fate swung around in their favor. And it was just a matter of time before someone on the Roush team wound up in the winner's circle.

"You never give up," Burton said. "This is a great race team, and I'm proud of everybody. I've been saying all along that this team doesn't quit. It's been a tough year. I'm real proud of (primary sponsor) Citgo. Those guys came on board expecting a whole lot, and we haven't been able to give 'em a whole lot. This is a great night for us. We need to do more of this. There are still some hard days ahead of us, but this will get that for us."

Sunday night was Burton's turn in the spotlight, to take the cheers, to enjoy the glory. And it was no longer a matter of time...it was about time.

Jerry Bonkowski covers NASCAR for ESPN.com.

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