Jeff Burton takes his car to the garage. Credit: Autostock
By Marty Smith, Turner Sports Interactive
March 17, 2003
12:03 PM EST (1703 GMT)
DARLINGTON, S.C. -- The Roush Racing motor failure mystery continued Sunday at Darlington Raceway, as Jeff Burton suffered a blown engine for the second consecutive weekend.
Burton finished 42nd and dropped to 22nd in the standings.
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After qualifying 37th for the Carolina Dodge Dealers 400, Burton quickly worked his way through the field and was a staple of the top 10 during the race's first 30 laps.
But on lap 32, a large plume of smoke erupted from beneath the machine, signaling the second Roush motor failure of the weekend and fifth since last weekend's event at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
"It's really unfortunate. We're having way too many problems, but it's not because they're not trying hard," said a dejected Burton as he exited his car. "Maybe we're having problems because we're trying too hard. We're trying to do the right thing, it's just not working out for us right now.
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"Everybody's working real hard. We had a great race car today. Our car in Happy Hour was just awesome and I really looked forward to running this race. I was having a great time out there. These things happen."
Though Burton, Mark Martin and Kurt Busch all lost engines last weekend at Atlanta, Roush Racing entered this weekend at Darlington with assurance that they had successfully remedied the issue.
Then, just at the outset of Happy Hour practice Saturday morning, the motor expired in Busch's Rubbermaid Ford. Suddenly, a twinge of fear crept through the Roush camp.
"After Kurt's engine yesterday we were a little worried," said crew chief Paul Andrews. "We didn't really know where that came from. We had almost he same problem last week, but we don't know exactly what happened yet, either. We had a really good car. It's a shame."
Andrews said the cause of Burton's engine failure won't be determined until it is disassembled at the shop, but that they'd "broken something in the bottom end." Burton added that Busch's issue Saturday "looks real similar to what we had today."
"We obviously wouldn't go to the racetrack with something we thought wasn't right," said Burton, who swept both Darlington races in 1999. "We've got to stay behind our guys and believe in them. I'm not an engine guy, I don't know how to help them fix the engines.
"I do know how to tell them that we're there, and we're not down on them. These things happen. It sucks. It's awful. It's all those things. But it is what it is and we've got to work hard to make sure it doesn't happen again."
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