Jeff Burton Gives Richard Childress Race Victory, Owner Championship

[PressRoom-GFN]

By Deb Williams

HOMESTEAD, Fla. (Nov. 17, 2007) – On Saturday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Jeff Burton gave team owner Richard Childress two cherished possessions in the motorsports community – a race victory and a team owner's championship.

By Burton merely starting his No. 29 Holiday Inn Chevrolet in the Ford 300, he provided Childress with the NASCAR Busch Series owners' title, the second time this decade the Welcome, N.C.-based team has won the championship without having the top driver on the circuit. The first time it occurred was 2003 when Kevin Harvick and Johnny Sauter piloted the No. 21 Chevrolet to the owner championship for Childress, while Hendrick Motorsports driver Brian Vickers captured the driver title.

Then, about three hours after the race started, Burton notched his fifth win this year and the 27th of his career in the season finale in the series that has been sponsored by Anheuser-Busch for 26 years. Next year, Nationwide Insurance begins sponsoring the circuit.

"It really means a lot to me to win the last race in the Busch Series," Burton said. "I grew up wanting to be a Busch driver; that's what I wanted to be. So it really means a lot to me to win the final race with
Busch as a sponsor."

In gaining the victory, Burton defeated Mark Martin, the series all-time leader with 47 victories, by 1.718 seconds. Roush Fenway drivers Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards finished third and fourth, respectively. Edwards clinched the NASCAR Busch Series championship two weeks ago at Texas Motor Speedway, but the official trophy presentation didn't occur until after the Homestead race.

Rounding out the top 10, respectively, were Stephen Leicht, Greg Biffle, Tony Raines, Bobby Hamilton Jr., Clint Bowyer and Marcos Ambrose.

David Ragan's spin while attempting to enter pit road on lap 170 interrupted a green-flag cycle of pit stops, and left the front-runners mired in the middle of the field for the race's final restart on lap 177. Burton restarted in the lead, but was 19th on the track, followed by Edwards and Kenseth, who had survived a tire problem and a spin on lap 86 that temporarily cost him a lap.

After Burton, Martin, Edwards and Kenseth carefully maneuvered their way through the heavy traffic, Martin managed to pull beside Burton for a few laps, but could never clear the No. 29 Chevrolet that Burton shared with Scott Wimmer during the season. Shortly after Burton pulled away from Martin, the Arkansas native found himself swapping second with Edwards. Martin finally secured second on lap 197 of the 200-lap race on the 1.5-mile track. Kenseth overtook Edwards for third on the race's final lap.

"We were pretty close tonight, but we couldn't pull it off, with Jeff Burton running the way he did," said Martin, who finished second for the second time in three races in the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. "But we gave it our best shot. We got 'em two second-place finishes, but we couldn't get
the job done."

Even though second-generation driver Ragan didn't finish the race, he still claimed the Raybestos Rookie of the Year title in the Busch Series. Ragan's father, Ken, formerly competed in ARCA and NASCAR's Cup Series.

###