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Guess which one qualified poorly. Wrong.
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| Crew chief fFrank Stoddard (left) with Ward Burton |
Ward, the elder of the Burton brothers, stuck his Dodge on the outside of the second row Saturday for the Brickyard 400, while Jeff slipped into Sunday's race on a provisional after posting the 44th-fastest speed.
Ward Burton, the 12th driver to take a qualifying lap Saturday, went 183.741 mph to claim his best starting spot of the season and his best in 10 previous Brickyard 400.
Burton hadn't qualified better than seventh (at Darlington) in 2003 and hadn't started higher than 12th (1999) here at Indy.
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| Jeff Burton (left) with crew chief Paul Andrews. Burton had to burn a provisional for the third time in 2003. |
His run didn't quite come out of left field, but it was close. Burton was only 21st in Friday's practice at 179.533 mph, but he and his Frank Stoddard-led crew made the right adjustments. And an early draw helped, too.
"I'm really happy with the progress the CAT team has made since we got here," Burton said. "To not have tested and to have struggled on the flat tracks, the high downforce tracks, this is really a big boost for us."
Burton hasn't seen much of the top 10 in 2003. Besides the qualifying effort at Darlington, he's finished seventh at Talladega, eighth at Pocono and 10th at Charlotte. And that's it.
Burton is 21st in the Winston Cup points standings in what has been a disappointing season. He won twice last year, but 2003 has been filled with trouble. He's crashed out of two races and failed to finish another with a blown engine.
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And in May, the bottom dropped out when Dodge canceled its contract with Bill Davis Racing.
But for one day, at least, all was well.
"I just hope we can back it up on Sunday," Burton said.
Jeff Burton hopes for a little more than backing up what he did Saturday. A lot more.
| Jeff Burton | | | | | | |
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"It's been real frustrating because we came here and tested the week before and had a great test," Burton said after going 179.648 in qualifying. "We felt real good about our stuff, and we unloaded and haven't been anywhere near like what we tested, so I'm real confused about that. I don't understand that one bit.
| Ward Burton | | | | | |
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"We got behind, and we've just been kind of having to guess at what to do, and we haven't hit it yet."
Jeff came to Indy with four consecutive top-10 finishes, including a solid sixth last week at Pocono. He had moved up six spots in the Winston Cup standings to 10th and looked for more at Indianapolis.
But he's done nothing but struggle since he got to the Brickyard, posting the 35th-fastest speed Friday.
"We certainly hope when we get the tape off of (the nose) and go to race trim that it's better than it is in qualifying trim, because in qualifying trim it drives awful," Burton said. "It's not that we're not working or trying. It's just that we got behind somehow."
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