Richard Childress Racing, Press Release

NOTES:

· This Week’s AT&T Chevrolet at Martinsville Speedway …

Jeff Burton will pilot chassis No. 224 from the Richard Childress Racing (RCR) NASCAR Cup Series stable. Built new for 2008, this is the same car Burton raced to a 12th-place finish at Auto Club Speedway of Southern California last month.

· The Martinsville Report …

In 27 starts at Martinsville, Burton boasts one win, nine top-five and 13 top-10 finishes. According to NASCAR’s loop data statistics, Burton is the sport’s seventh-best green-flag passer at Martinsville Speedway. Over the past three years, the 20-time Cup Series winner has made 206 passes under green-flag conditions, 95 of which were made while running in the top 15.

· Leading the Way …

Burton is one of only three drivers who have completed every lap this season. Additionally, the South Boston, Va., native has completed 86.3% of the total laps (1,336 of 1,548 laps) running in the top 15 and leads all drivers with the most laps run on the lead lap (1,545 of 1,548 laps).

· Good Start, Better Finish …

Over the season’s first five races, Burton has earned one win, two top-five and three top-10 finishes. He currently holds an 18.2 starting average coupled with a 10th-place finishing average. Burton has yet to finish outside the top 15 this season.

· Points Check …

Burton’s victory at Bristol Motor Speedway two weeks ago vaulted the 2007 Chase contender one spot, to fourth, in the Cup Series championship point standings. The Food City 500 winner now sits 37 markers behind leader Kyle Busch.

· How this All Stacks Up …

Burton currently sits eighth (97.0) in NASCAR’s Driver Rating category. The Driver Rating is a formula that combines the following categories: wins, finishes, top-15 finishes, average running position while on the lead lap, average speed under green, fastest lap, most laps led and lead-lap finishes. The maximum points a driver can earn in each race is 150 points. The Driver Rating number is used pre-race as a prediction tool and post-race as a performance evaluator.

· RCR at Martinsville …

In 100 previous NASCAR Cup Series starts at Martinsville, RCR has earned three poles and posted six wins between former drivers Ricky Rudd and Dale Earnhardt. Additionally, team owner Richard Childress has earned 22 top-five and 39 top-10 finishes at the .526-mile paper clip-shaped track dating back to April 10, 1972. Childress, a former driver in NASCAR’s top division, contributed four of those top 10s from 1976-1978.

· Carry Me Back to Ole Virginia …

Five members of the AT&T Racing team hail from the Old Dominion State. AT&T driver Jeff Burton was born and raised in South Boston. Gear specialist and fuel runner Curt Bowman calls Meadows of Dan his hometown. Transporter driver Franky Nester was born in Ridgeway and now resides in Stoneville. Gear specialist Greg Meredith was born and still resides in Fancy Gap and tire specialist Tracey Ramsey is from Waynesboro.

· Happy Birthday, Rocky …

Rocky Ryan, spotter for the AT&T Racing team, will celebrate his 39th birthday Monday, March 31.

· Don’t Miss a Beat …

This weekend Burton’s AT&T Chevy will be one of four cars featured on DIRECTV’s HotPass. With a channel dedicated solely to the AT&T racing team during the Goody’s Cool Orange 500, fans will be able to watch all the action through DIRECTV’s multiple camera angles, real-time car telemetry and listen to in-car audio communication. NASCAR HotPass, Only on DIRECTV, features four driver channels including dedicated announcers for each team. The service, combined with race day telecasts and nascar.com coverage, gives fans the most comprehensive and powerful NASCAR experience possible. Burton’s team will be showcased on DIRECTV channel 793 and DIRECTV’s HD channel 798.

· Up to Speed …

The Goody’s Cool Orange 500 at Martinsville Speedway will be televised live Sunday, March 30 beginning at 1:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) on FOX and will broadcast worldwide the Motor Racing Network (MRN) and Sirius Satellite Radio. Qualifying for the sixth of 36 NASCAR Cup Series events will take the green flag at 3:30 p.m. EDT Friday, March 28 and will be telecast live on SPEED.

JEFF BURTON QUOTES:

You never really qualify well at Martinsville but you always find a way of being a frontrunner at the end. Why is that?

“We qualify awful there. I don’t know what that’s all about. I’m terrible when it comes to qualifying but I like the race. It’s long, it’s hard and it really is one of the hardest races that we do. Martinsville is both a physical and emotional race. I think it’s the longest feeling race that we run all year and I like that challenge. I like it when the racing is difficult and that’s when it becomes a challenge - not that it’s not always a challenge, but obviously some challenges are bigger than others. To me, that’s what our sport is all about. It’s about being difficult and trying to overcome obstacles and Martinsville is pretty big obstacle to overcome.”

How do you work your way through the field after qualifying mid-pack on a half-mile race track?

“We always talk about how a poor qualifying run at Martinsville hurts you but, if you really think about it, you always find yourself using different strategies because you get half the field that is scared to pit and the other half wants to pit. The cautions come out so frequently that you always get in these positions where sometimes running 15th is advantageous, as silly as that sounds, because it’s easy for you to pit then. It’s hard for the leader to pit. If you’re running 15th and the leaders pit, then you stay out and everybody behind you stays out. Then it takes them forever to get to you. You get these odd sequences at Martinsville and sometimes it works out where qualifying poorly hurts you. Sometimes it works out where it doesn’t. You’re not precluded from having success by qualifying poorly and a lot of that is because of pit sequences. It gets real jumbled up.”

You’ve started the season off in high fashion – finishing no worse than 13th and a win at Bristol. What do you attribute your finishes in the first five races of the season to?

“Preparation, effort, and dedication are the key factors. We spent the latter portion of last season thinking about the things we couldn’t get done and how are we going to get better. The organization, as a whole, made a concerted off-season effort to put every ounce of energy we had into making the Impala SS run well. As the season progresses there are going to be teams that will move the ball forward and it’s our job to do the same thing.”

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