Misfortune Strikes Burton, AT&T Racing Team in Thunder Valley

Race/Date:	Sharpie 500 /Aug. 23, 2008
Location:	Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway
Start Position:	18th
Finish Position:	42nd
Points Position:	Fifth (Maintained Position)

A competitive run for Jeff Burton and the AT&T Racing team was dashed Saturday night when the South Boston, Va., native was spun out of contention on lap 195 and left with a 42nd-place finish in the Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Despite the unfavorable result, the 20-time Cup Series winner maintained the fifth spot in the season championship point standings with two races remaining in NASCAR’s Race to the Chase. Although Burton trails current point leader Kyle Busch by 492 points, he sits 274 markers forward of David Ragan’s 13th-place tally.

After starting the 500-lap contest 18th in front of an announced sell out crowd of 160,000, the 2008 Food City 500 winner set sail toward the front of the pack and grabbed 11 positions before the field slowed on lap 96 for a two-car incident in turn four.

Reporting that his No. 31 AT&T Chevy was tight through the middle of the turns, Burton was satisfied with the overall performance of his machine. Crew chief Scott Miller brought the veteran driver to pit road for a routine four-tire pit stop and quick work by the AT&T over-the-wall crew netted Burton one spot when green-flag racing resumed on lap 103.

Burton teetered between the sixth and eighth positions over the next 93 laps; however, while running seventh on lap 195, disaster struck entering turn one. Contact between Tony Stewart and Sterling Marlin’s machines sent Marlin sailing off the racing surface, causing drivers behind them, including Burton, to slow down. Unfortunately, Joe Nemechek never slowed and slammed into the back of the No. 31 Chevy, sending Burton spinning on the track and ultimately into the retaining wall

After a quick visit to the infield care center, Burton watched as his AT&T Racing team examined the injured machine and came to the conclusion that the damage was too significant to return to competition. The team called it a night and left Thunder Valley with a 42nd-place credit.

Carl Edwards captured his sixth win of the season and was followed to the line by Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin. Richard Childress Racing teammate Kevin Harvick finished fourth and Jeff Gordon rounded out the top-five finishers.

Fellow RCR teammate Clint Bowyer finished seventh.

Next week, Burton and the AT&T Racing team travel to the Golden State for the division’s second stop on the 2008 Cup Series schedule at Auto Club Speedway of Southern California.

Flag-to-flag coverage of the Pepsi 500 will take the green flag Sunday, August 31 beginning at 7 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on ESPN. The race will also be broadcast on the Motor Racing Network and Sirius Satellite Radio. Qualifying for the 25th points-paying race on the Cup Series calendar will be televised live on SPEED Friday, August 29 beginning at 6:30 p.m. EDT and will also broadcast live on MRN and Sirius Satellite Radio.

“Two cars got together in front of me and when I was getting in to the corner, the car behind me just didn&squo;t see it and ran over me. The AT&T Chevrolet was really good. We were really fast, taking our time and trying to be smart. You have to drive further than just your hood. You have to look further ahead of you at Bristol. Whoever was behind me didn’t see what was going on and I got ran over. It’s just a typical Bristol wreck but if you look in front of you, you tend not to hit stuff. I was trying to be smart and cautious but it didn’t do me any good. We were in pretty good shape in the points but things like this are going to hurt you. There is nothing we could have done different tonight. We ran well, got ourselves in position and got wrecked. You can’t lose sleep over things like that. We will be okay.”