Jeff Burton and the AT&T Racing team played a leading role in the 50th running of the Daytona 500, leading nine of the final 12 laps, but were freight-trained on the day’s final restart and ultimately credited with a 13th-place finish.

The South Boston, Va., native started the Great American Race 36th by virtue of his disappointing 22nd-place run in Thursday’s Gatorade Duel 150 due to a broken right-front shock mount.

At the drop of the green flag for the 200-lap race, Burton hung in and around the top 30 for first 30 laps, running as high as 25th when the first round of green-flag pit stops took place on lap 34.

Grappling with a loose-handling AT&T Chevy while running the top groove of the 2.5-mile tri-oval, Burton was summoned to pit road one lap later by crew chief Scott Miller. He overshot his pit box and had to reverse the bright orange machine before the AT&T over-the-wall crew could go to work bolting on four fresh Goodyear tires, including an air pressure adjustment to the left-front, and adding fuel. Once the pit stops cycled through, Burton was scored 32nd.

The 500-mile event stayed under green-flag conditions over the next 36 laps when another round of pit stops began on lap 71. Burton peeled off the racing surface 29th and brought the AT&T Chevy down pit road for a routine four-tire pit stop. The first of seven caution flags waved 10 laps later and Miller exercised the opportunity to bring his veteran driver to pit road for right-side tires, hoping to gain valuable track position. As luck would have it, Burton was slowed exiting pit road while trying to avoid an accident with numerous cars trying to leave pit road at the same time. He was scored 24th when the green-flag flew again on lap 84. Over the next 32 laps, Burton clawed his way through the 43-car field. He was 21st on lap 86, 17th on lap 98 and 14th on lap 102.

With the sun now setting over the “World Center of Racing,” Burton radioed to Miller that his AT&T Chevy had now turned to the tight side. The next two pit stops resulted in four fresh tires, fuel and slight air pressure adjustments. Restarting 10th after a caution slowed the field from laps 152 to 155, side-by-side racing continued as Burton set his sights on the leaders.

The third caution flag waved just seven laps later. Miller rolled the dice and brought the 19-time Cup Series winner to pit road for the final stop of the night, replacing only right-side tires to hopefully give Burton an advantage on the race track. He restarted eighth.

Four more cautions plagued the final 35 laps of the golden edition of the Daytona 500 but that didn’t slow Burton’s charge to the front. He was sixth on lap 172, third on lap 181 and eventually took over the top spot when the sixth caution flag flew on lap 189.

Burton led the next eight laps but on the night’s final restart on lap 197, Kyle Busch went low and teammate Tony Stewart went high, sandwiching Burton in the middle entering turn one. Unfortunately, both Busch and Stewart had drafting help and the AT&T driver found himself riding the middle groove with no help and ultimately crossed the finish line 13th.

Ryan Newman won the prestigious event followed by Kurt Busch, Stewart, Busch and Reed Sorenson.

Burton’s Richard Childress Racing teammates Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer finished 14th and 24th, respectively.

Next up for Jeff Burton and the AT&T Racing team is the Auto Club 500 at California Speedway. Live coverage of the event will be televised on FOX Sunday, February 24, beginning at 3:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST). The race will also be covered live on the Motor Racing Network (MRN) and Sirius Satellite Radio. Qualifying for the second of 36 NASCAR Cup Series races will be televised live on SPEED Friday, February 22 beginning at 6:30 p.m. EST.

LG Shine™

Learn More