Richard Childress Racing

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February 21, 2012

Jeff Burton Event Preview: Daytona 500

"Every year is a new year. Yes, of course, I do want to win the Daytona 500, but we haven't won for various reasons so we will go down there and try to learn from the mistakes we made and apply the things we've learned and move on."

RCR/HHP Photo RCR/HHP Photo

Event Preview Fact Sheet

Jeff Burton
No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet

Event/Date:
Daytona 500
February 26, 2012

Venue:
Daytona International Speedway

Race Notes and Quotes:

This Week's Caterpillar Chevrolet at Daytona International Speedway ... Jeff Burton will race Chassis No. 296 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable in the Daytona 500. This chassis, built in 2010 for RCR's No. 33 entry, competed in two superspeedway events in 2010 including the Talladega Superspeedway race in April (started-14th, finished-seventh) and the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway in July (started-15th, finished-17th).

Career Daytona Stats ... The Daytona 500 marks Burton's 36th start at the "World Center of Racing" and 620th-career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series entry. He has amassed one win, seven top-five and nine top-10 finishes along with one pole award at the 2.5-mile superspeedway.

Getting Loopy in the "Sunshine State" ... Burton has garnered some impressive NASCAR Loop Data statistics at Daytona International Speedway. Of all drivers entering the 54th annual Daytona 500, he has the second most green flag passes (2,927), the fifth most quality passes (1,722), the 10th best average running position (16.2) and spent 1,350 laps in the top 15, that ranks him 10th amongst his competitors

No Stranger to Victory Lane ... Although he has yet to capture a victory in the "Great American Race," the South Boston, Va., native has two Daytona race trophies on his mantle. The first is from the 2000 Coke Zero 400 and most recently from last season's Duel 150 qualifying race.

Welcome Drew Blick ... During the offseason, RCR named Drew Blickensderfer as the crew chief on the No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet for the 2012 Sprint Cup Series season. Blickensderfer spent the 2011 Sprint Cup Series season as crew chief of Roush Fenway Racing's flagship No. 6 team with driver David Ragan, winning two pole awards and bringing home the checkered flag in the Coke Zero 400 at DIS in July. The 35-year-old Decatur, Ill.native is best known for kicking off his Sprint Cup Series crew chief career in grand fashion in 2009 winning his first outing in the Daytona 500 with Matt Kenseth and the No. 17 team. The duo also won the following weekend at Auto Cub Speedway making Blickensderfer one of the only crew chiefs in history to win his first two races in NASCAR's elite division. Blickensderfer also enjoyed success in Roush Fenway's NASCAR Nationwide Series program with such drivers as: Carl Edwards, Danny O'Quinn and Kenseth.

Honoring a Friend ... The Nos. 31 and 33 Chevrolets driven in this week's events by Burton and Elliott Sadler will carry a special decal honoring Donald E. Becker, an executive vice president of The Kroger Co. and friend of the General Mills motorsports family who passed away last year during Speedweeks. During Becker's career, he held a number of leadership positions at Kroger, including Vice President of the Cincinnati/Dayton Ohio Division and President of the Central Division. Becker joined Kroger in 1969 as a clerk in the Cincinnati/Dayton Ohio Division. He helped Kroger strengthen relationships with customers and suppliers alike and was also an avid supporter of the Darwin T. Turner Scholars Program at the University of Cincinnati, the Greater Cincinnati Boy Scouts of America, Crayons to Computers, the Easter Seals Work Resource Center and St. Michael's Center. He earned an undergraduate degree from Central State University, graduating first in his Army ROTC Honors program and retired from his military service with the rank of Captain.

Featured Cat Dealers ... Ring Power and Louisiana Cat will be featured on the deck lid of the No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet for all Speedweeks 2012 events at Daytona International Speedway.

Ring Power: Ring Power is the Central and Northeast Florida Caterpillar dealer, headquartered in St. Augustine, Fla. Ring Power is comprised of eight divisions and has 50 years of experience selling, servicing and supporting Caterpillar and allied equipment. Additional information about the Ring Power organization, its products, services and employment opportunities can be found on the internet at www.ringpower.com.

Louisiana Cat: For nearly 80 years, Louisiana Cat has served the area with sales and service of Cat equipment. With 21 locations across the "Pelican State," Louisiana Cat provides an extensive line of equipment, engines and power systems, work tools, vocational trucks and more. In addition, they carry a large stock of used Caterpillar equipment, and with Caterpillar's extensive dealer network, Louisiana Cat has access to used equipment on a global scale. Louisiana Cat's parts and service departments provide the reliability and availability you have come to expect from your Caterpillar dealership. Louisiana Rents is your single resource for high quality, low-hour Cat and top brands construction equipment and attachment rentals. Louisiana Rents locations also sell new equipment from Caterpillar's brand allied vendors. Daily, weekly, monthly or longer rentals are available. To ensure that the equipment is ready to work when you are, all machines are serviced and maintained by factory trained technicians. Big or small, Louisiana Rents rents it all.

Calling all Burton Fans ... Burton will be making two public appearances during Speedweeks 2012. The first is an autograph session on behalf of Coca-Cola at the Walmart on 1101 Beville Road in Daytona Beach on Friday, Feb. 24th at 3 p.m. and the second is a question-and-answer session at the Chevy stage in the Daytona International Speedway turn-four display area on Sunday, Feb. 26th at 8: 45 a.m.

Rewind to Last Week ... After drawing the 12th-place starting position at the annual Budweiser Shootout Draw Party, Burton ran in the top 10 until he was involved in a multi-car accident on lap 10. The No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet team's "never-give-up" attitude paid off and resulted in an 11th-place finish in the Budweiser Shootout at Daytona.

JEFF BURTON QUOTES:

Everything seemed to go right in the Duel 150 qualifying race last season.
"Yes, we won last year's Duel 150 race. As close as we lost at Talladega Superspeedway to (Clint) Bowyer, we won it against him in the Duel 150 race by that same amount."

What was the feeling that day? Did it seem like Speedweeks 2011 had potential to be great?
"We ran really fast in the Budweiser Shootout last year and ended up getting mixed up. Bowyer and I didn't draft well together in that race. (Kevin) Harvick and I didn't draft well together either. Clint and I sat down and had a long conversation about what we were doing wrong and how to fix it. We went out and applied that in the Duel 150 and won that race. That was really gratifying that we learned quickly and were able to adapt. Then in the Daytona 500, we were running well and lost an engine. I've paid close attention and a lot of guys who won the Duel 150 qualifying race have terrible years. Honestly, when we won the Duel 150 qualifying race, I crossed the finish line and thought, 'no one ever has a good season after they win this race.' Superstition, I guess."

Is the Duel 150 qualifying race nerve-racking because you want to see what you can do, but at the same time you don't want to screw up your primary race car?
"It's a hard race because you want to take that primary car into the Daytona 500 and apply everything that you learned in the week leading up to it. Practice is stressful enough on Friday and Saturday because you put so much effort and energy into that one car. You want to race like there is no tomorrow, but you know that's not the smartest thing to do."

When you ran in the Daytona 500 last season, did you feel like you had a car to win it all?
"We definitely had a car good enough to win. We were really fast, led a lot of laps and had a car fast enough to win. We had a car fast enough to win at every restrictor-plate race last season. We won the Duel 150 qualifying race, finished second at Talladega Superspeedway, but had fast enough cars to win at every one of those races."

Was the way the Daytona 500 ended indicative of how the season would go?
"It immediately put us behind the eight ball. We knew we could recover from it, but we were afforded less mistakes. We also ran well the next weekend at Phoenix International Raceway and had the big wreck on the backstretch. I think there were 10 cars in it. So we had DNFs in the first two races and you're already playing catch up."

You have been running in the Daytona 500 since 1994. Does it frustrate you that you haven't won it yet?
"Every year is a new year. Yes, of course, I do want to win the Daytona 500, but we haven't won for various reasons so we will go down there and try to learn from the mistakes we made and apply the things we've learned and move on."

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