Although Jeff Burton and the AT&T Racing team led for 37 laps and weren't as good as they needed to be late in the race, they settled for a third-place finish in Sunday's Goody's Cool Orange 500 at Martinsville Speedway and left with the points lead.

The rock-solid finish vaulted the South Boston, Va., native three spots to take over the lead in NASCAR's championship point standings. Burton currently leads Richard Childress Racing (RCR) teammate Kevin Harvick by 39 points, marking the first time in RCR's illustrious history that Childress-led teams sit first and second in the standings. Additionally, the strong run was Burton's third top-five and fourth consecutive top-10 finish. At the same time, the veteran driver has yet to finish outside the top 15 this season, posting an impressive 7.3 finishing average in the opening six events.

In qualifying, Burton navigated Martinsville's tricky half-mile in 20.009 seconds (94.637 mph), posting the 24th-fastest time of the session. The effort afforded the driver of the No. 31 AT&T Impala SS a starting spot on the outside of row 12 for the 500-lap event at the flat, paper clip-shaped oval.

Burton steadily climbed the leader board during the opening 43 laps of the caution-ridden event and was content to get a feel for the handling of his AT&T Chevy while crew chief Scott Miller drafted a strategy to get his driver to the front.

The second of 18 caution flags slowed the field on lap 43 and although the 2008 Food City 500 winner captured 14 positions, he required more rear grip. Miller summoned his driver to pit road on lap 45 for four fresh Goodyear tires, including an air pressure adjustment to the right-rear, and fuel. While exiting his pit box, Burton collided with Matt Kenseth's No. 17 machine as he was entering his pit box two stalls in front of the No. 31 team's box .The hiccup on pit road cost Burton valuable track position and he restarted the 263-mile showdown 27th in the running order.

Back under green, Burton's pit road mishap proved not be costly as he once again powered his way through the 43-car field. He was 22nd on lap 69, 19th on lap 86 and 16th on lap 101.

Burton and company took advantage of the day's fifth caution period on lap 104 as he still required more rear grip to his bright orange machine. Another slight air pressure adjustment was in order and thanks to sound work on pit road by the AT&T over-the-wall crew, Burton netted two positions and restarted 14th on lap 110.

The 20-time Cup Series winner did not waste anytime moving through traffic once the green flag fell. Posting times faster than the leaders, Burton catapulted his way into the top 10 on lap 139 and by lap 174 he moved into the fourth position.

Over the course of two more pit stops, nine cautions and 183 laps, Burton ran in the top-six but advised Miller his car was now suffering from a loose-handling condition and he was struggling entering Martinsville's flat corners.

A dose of relief came on lap 361 when the field, once again, was shown the yellow flag. Burton gave up his third-place running position in order for the team to fine-tune the handling on the AT&T Chevy with more air pressure adjustments. Although the AT&T pit crew provided Burton with dynamite service by gaining him one position on the track, he would restart fifth on lap 367 as the top-three cars chose not to pit.

Just 19 laps later, the caution flag waved yet again and with his driver running second Miller knew he had to make a quick decision whether or not he should bring him down to pit road to top off the fuel tank and bolt fresh tires on the No. 31 machine. As leader Jeff Gordon peeled off the racing surface, Miller radioed to Burton to stay on the track and because of that call, Burton inherited the lead when the field returned to green on lap 393.

Burton held the top spot for the next 34 laps before eventual winner Denny Hamlin passed him for the lead. While grappling with a loose-handling machine, four-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon passed Burton for second with four laps remaining, leaving the veteran driver to cross the finish line third.

Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart rounded out the top-five finishers.

Burton's RCR teammates Clint Bowyer and Kevin Harvick finished 10th and 12th, respectively.

Next weekend, Burton and the AT&T Racing team head west to the Lone Star State to defend their win at Texas Motor Speedway. Live coverage of the Samsung 500 begins Sunday, April 6 at 1:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) on FOX. The race will also broadcast worldwide on the Performance Racing Network and Sirius Satellite Radio. Qualifying for round seven of the 2008 NASCAR Cup Series championship will air live on SPEED Friday, April 4 at 4:30 p.m. EDT.

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