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"There's a lot of people from Halifax County that live up here, now. I did an appearance last night at Sea Ray Boats and there must have been 40 or 50 people there from Halifax County."
On Friday the Burtons did the home state fans proud as Jeff put his No. 99 CITGO Ford in seventh and Ward planted the No. 22 Caterpillar Dodge in eighth in the 43-car field.
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| Elliott Sadler expects his No. 38 Ford to be better during the race. Credit: Autostock |
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There was little good news for the Sadlers, as Elliott's No. 38 M&M's Ford ended up 30th and Hermie's No. 02 Chevrolet, carrying sponsorship from the local Dollar Tree Stores chain, used a provisional to start 43rd.
"We did a lot of race stuff (in practice) so I think we're going to be OK in race trim," Elliott said. "But we were really bad in qualifying trim all day long, so we knew we were going to be starting somewhere in the back."
It wasn't as bad as it was for his older brother, Hermie, who squeaked into the field for his fifth start of the season.
Jeff Burton said it was track changes that prevented him from challenging for his first pole of the season.
"We just didn't have near the grip that we had in practice, which maybe everybody will lose it," Jeff said. "But my car didn't drive anything near as well as it did in practice.
"I found it (track) a lot slicker than it was in May (and) we lost a lot of time off of Turn 2 and in the middle of 3. It wasn't as good as I thought it could be."
Jeff said his early draw in the qualifying order hurt him, and Ward was favored by a late draw that enabled him to join his brother in the top 10 of the grid.
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"It was a good effort for both teams," Ward said. "We made one change that really brought our car to life, and it's actually a change that helped our car in race mode, too, so I feel pretty good about it, right now."
The trend continued in the two 45-minute post-qualifying practices, particularly Happy Hour, where Jeff Burton was fastest and Ward, 15th; to Elliott Sadler's 27th and Hermie's 39th.
"It's difficult to size up exactly where you are because everybody's got different types of laps on their tires," Ward said. "But I know we're in the ballpark and hopefully we'll be good enough and keep adjusting on it all night."
While not involved in the family "rivalry," 19th qualifier Ricky Rudd -- who'll make his 50th career start at Richmond Saturday night -- said he, too, was aware of the difficulties of coming home.
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| Jeff Burton Credit: Autostock |
"It's the closest thing that I have to being a home track -- I grew up 100 miles away (in Chesapeake)," Rudd said. "A lot of friends and family come here to watch us race, and there's always a lot of extra pressure to do well."
At least Rudd has responded, with 19 top-five and 27 top-10 finishes here.
"We've been able to have some good runs at Richmond and the fans have treated us real well," he said. "We enjoy racing here."
Ward Burton spoke for the group when he said a home state victory would bring on an unprecedented celebration for him.
"I'd rather win this race than any other," he said. "My grandma's up here and I've got a lot of family and a lot of friends here (so) it would be an exciting race to win.
"If we win this race, we're gonna sign some autographs after we do the media center, so I hope it will happen."
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