CONCORD, N.C.
This is where everything went wrong for Jeff Burton two years ago.
He headed into the Martinsville fall race leading the points, but an engine failure and a Jimmie Johnson rally soured Burton’s title run.
Today, Burton goes into this weekend’s race at the historic half-mile track in second place– the closest he’s been to leading the points during the Chase since that fateful day.
Unlike two years ago, Burton enters Martinsville off Saturday night’s win at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Burton used a pit call by crew chief Scott Miller to take fuel only on the final stop to keep the lead and went on to his second victory of the season.
Burton trails Jimmie Johnson by 69 points with five races left. Greg Biffle (86 points out of the lead) is the only other driver within 150 points of Johnson.
Carl Edwards, among the title favorites, had problems for a second consecutive race and fell so far back that he won’t win the crown unless the top three drivers all have poor finishes – or he has one of the sport’s greatest rallies.
Edwards likely will have to wait for next year for his next chance at a title. For Burton, it’s taken two years.
Burton says he’s learned from that failed title run in 2006 where he finished seventh.
“ It had been a while since I had been in the mix, ” Burton said. “ So, we were getting accustomed to all that again. As relaxed as we wanted to be, I wasn’t as relaxed as I thought I could be.
“ I was saying all the right things, I was doing all the right things, I thought. But at the end of the day, I was still kind of tensed up about it. ”
The difference this season?
Attitude.
“ We’re not going to get caught up in the point thing,” Burton said after his 21st career NASCAR Sprint Cup victory. “ We’re paying attention to it, but we’re not going to get caught up in it.”
Instead, he just wants to have fun.
His team will need that approach because it will be tough to gain on Johnson, who has won three of the past four fall races at Martinsville. Burton’s win Saturday, along with his fourth-place finish at Talladega the week before, marked the first time since late May that Burton outscored Johnson in back-to-back races.
Even so, Johnson is well aware of Burton.
“ He’s always been on my radar screen,” Johnson said.
What Johnson couldn’t find Saturday was his car’s handling. Strong early, Johnson said he struggled with the car in the last quarter of the race. He fell from second to sixth in the last 20 laps, costing him 20 points.
His fall was nothing like what Edwards suffered.
His woes began at Talladega when he triggered a 12-car crash late and finished 29th. His actions earned the wrath of Kevin Harvick, who called Edwards a “pansy’’ for driving at the back of the pack most of the race until his late charge. Edwards sent Harvick a sarcastic note.
A few days later, an argument in the Nationwide garage at Lowe’s Motor Speedway turned physical with Harvick shoving Edwards. NASCAR officials met with both before the Cup race.
Saturday, Edwards lost a lap pitting under green because he thought he had a tire losing air pressure. It wasn’t. Shortly afterward, his car lost power. Ignition problems were suspected. His crew spent 15 laps making repairs. He finished 33rd and trails Johnson by 168 points. No driver has come from more than 150 points behind this late in the season to win the title.
“There’s no other way to put it, it’s just a bad week,” Edward said.
Not for Burton. He hopes he feels the same way after Martinsville.
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