Jeff Burton: "We need to get together as a team and talk about our goals. Obviously, the first goal is to compete at a high level. If you do that enough, you'll have chances to win." Credit: Autostock

Conversation: Burton and Childress

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. -- Richard Childress and Jeff Burton proved once again that dreams could come true in NASCAR, when the veteran duo announced that Burton would drive for Richard Childress Racing for three years, beginning in 2005.

The bonus for Childress, Burton, crew chief Kevin Hamlin and their team is that they'll have a 14-race "trial run" through the stretch of this season to get acclimated to each other.

AUDIO Jeff Burton and Richard Childress Listen to the Conversation

Burton, considered by many to be the consummate professional driver, said last Friday he didn't think it would take that long to get competitive. In fact, when the partnership begins with this weekend's GFS Marketplace 400 at Michigan International Speedway, it could happen.

After they made their announcement Friday at Watkins Glen International, Burton and his new owner took time to talk with NASCAR.COM senior writer Dave Rodman about their expectations, how they came together and just how trying the last year has been.

Q: Jeff, this has got to be kind of a bittersweet day for you, with the excitement of joining Richard Childress Racing tempered with some sadness at leaving someone who's meant an awful lot to your career?

Jeff Burton: Yeah, it really is, and that's a good way to say it. I'm extremely excited about the future. I think that Richard and I have talked a lot about his ideas about race teams and my ideas about race teams and they're real similar.

I think Richard Childress Racing has the tools and the pieces to go compete at a high level. And if I didn't think that, I wouldn't have made this move.

Q: Richard, it's got to be the same type of feeling for you? There's a lot of excitement at getting a guy you've watched for a long time, and who Dale Earnhardt endorsed; but also a little bit of sadness at losing Dave Blaney, who has really started to turn this AOL program around.

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Richard Childress: Yeah, we put out a release (Thursday) night on Dave Blaney; thanking him for everything he's done. He's really helped the team by giving us a direction.

Dave will surely be in our future plans, hopefully somewhere down the line. He's a great guy and he really done a lot for us.

But we're really excited about having Jeff there right now. We hadn't planned this quite this early, but we're going to take the opportunity and it really helps us set our feet on the ground for making a solid championship run next year.

Q: Jeff, how well do you think you and crew chief Kevin Hamlin and that AOL Chevrolet team can come out of the box at Michigan?

Burton: There's no reason why we shouldn't run well. I don't walk into that team thinking that we're not going to go to Michigan and not run well. I don't think that's right.

I think we can go there and run well. I think that team is a solid team. You look at what that team did last year, when they had Robby Gordon, who is a very good driver.

Obviously Dave Blaney is a good driver and Johnny Sauter is, too. But there's chemistry that has to happen. That's a very, very capable team and I expect to go to Michigan and compete, very well.

I know that we have some growing to do, but we're not going to use that as an excuse. We're ready to get going and we need to get going. We can't use it as an excuse that we don't know each other very well.

We need to do everything we've got to do to get to know each other very well, because it's time to go.

Q: You've got 14 races this season to build something, so what are your goals for the balance of this year, and is a win feasible?

Burton: We need to get together as a team and talk about our goals. Obviously, the first goal is to compete at a high level. If you do that enough, you'll have chances to win.

Normally, people don't just pop up and win a race. You have to compete and knock off top-fives, put yourself in position to win and then it can happen. That would be the immediate goal: To start putting ourselves in position (to win) when the race is over.

Q: Richard, you've got your eyes on everything and everybody in the garage. To get Jeff Burton as your driver, what impresses you the most about him as a racecar driver?

Richard Childress

Childress: I think it's his stability, and his knowledge of knowing how to race. There are a lot of great race drivers in this garage and in this series. But you've got to have guys who know how to race. Jeff's a racer.

He knows how to race and he knows how to win. He's a proven winner and I think, just knowing that and knowing from when we raced him so hard, I think, neither one of us won the championship in; I think it was 2000, but we were like second and he was third.

I really got to watch (him) a lot, and that really built a lot of interest.

To have him in an RCR car today means a whole lot to me personally. I'm looking forward to the things we can do. He's a championship caliber driver. We're going to give him the stuff it takes.

This thing ain't going to turn around overnight. It's something we're going to work at. By being able to start out this year with it, it's going to give us a huge advantage to be able to be ready to go next year.

Burton: Richard made a comment about it not turning around overnight. He's right. Racing is hard. This is a tough business. But at the same time, long term I feel real good about our chances, and short term too.

We're not planning on going to Michigan and running bad, I can tell you that. We sat down and spent some time with the team. We're ready to go. We're ready to go to Michigan and have a chance to run well and compete at the highest level and start building on something for next year and also this year.

Q: Jeff, describe the emotional roller coaster you've been on, gosh, for the last year, isn't it?

Burton: It is hard to describe. The people around me have all been real worried about me. My family's been worried about my future in this sport.

I tried the best I could to focus on the racing, but I'm going to tell you something: It's really to do that. When we had the sponsorship issues that we had going on, and all the insecurity that revolves around that, it's hard to pay attention to the racing.

I tried my best and my team tried their best but it's a difficult process. We don't have that to worry about now and that's a huge relief. What a great feeling (it is) to only have to worry about how do we run well?

And I woke up (Friday) morning at 2:15 -- roughly -- thinking about what do we need to do to compete at Watkins Glen. That was my thought. It wasn't, 'what if we don't get a sponsor for Michigan?' or 'what if we don't get a sponsor by Phoenix?'

It wasn't that -- it was, 'what can we do to compete?' And when I can focus, and I can spend my time thinking about that, I can be very effective. I have a huge weight off my shoulders and I'm looking forward to being able to focus on the things that have made me a driver that got used to winning, and when I can do that (focus), we will get back to winning.

Q: Is there a lot of relief, on your wife, Kim's part especially?

Burton: Yeah. This is a sport that is also an occupation. There are not many people that have the luxury of having their hobby and their passion also is their occupation. And that's good and bad.

The bad thing is, you want to treat it as a passion, but it's also a business. And this has been a hard year on my wife, my mother, my wife's parents -- everybody. This is a huge relief -- a huge relief.

Credit: Autostock

And it's huge excitement. I want to be clear; I'm excited about this opportunity. I didn't do this based on security only. Security was a small factor (because) I don't care how much money you can make or how long you can do it.

If you can't win and run in the front, happiness ain't there. This is a sport that revolves around being happy, based on the people you're running with and the level at which you can compete.

If you can't do both those things, it doesn't matter how much money you're making or how long you're making the money. You still have a miserable life.

Q: Richard, are there any tests scheduled this week, or will Michigan be the first opportunity for Kevin, Jeff and the guys to work together?

Childress: I'm not sure. We had a test scheduled this week with the 30 car and I'm not sure if it's still on. It would be nice to get a test in.

An RCR spokesperson later confirmed that the team would stage a one-day test on Wednesday on Kentucky Speedway.

Q: Jeff, talk a little bit about the Chevrolet / Ford aspect of this. You've driven nothing but Fords your entire Cup career and obviously a lot of Ford fans and Chevy fans are going to take note of that. And have you communicated much with the manufacturer people?

Burton: I lost a lot of fans when I left Ford, and I gained a lot of fans when I came to Chevrolet (laughing). I don't know how that will play out. I'm sure some people will not like it and some people will.

I think that rivalry is great for our sport and I think this might intensify that a little bit. And that's OK. I'm a student of the sport and I think that it's great that Ford and Chevrolet have that long battle.

Hey, I've had a great relationship with Ford and I look forward to a great relationship with Chevrolet.

Q: Richard, you mentioned the domino effect that signing Jeff might have on the status of your entire organization at RCR. Just in general, how do you see that working out?

Childress: I think this is perfect and I think the timing is really going to end up working out well. We've already looked at some things; we're still looking at some different things.

Now that we have this put behind us we can go forward and hopefully we'll be doing our announcements in October.

Q: Jeff, how much does it mean to you that Dale Earnhardt lobbied Richard so strongly to get you to be a part of his team?

Burton: I don't know how long that list of drivers was -- it could have been one hundred people long -- and I still would have huge respect and reverence for that.

You know, Dale Earnhardt is something that I looked up to -- I still look up to. The legacy he left our sport goes without even talking about, so when he would come over and talk to me about any issue, I always thought that was pretty cool.

When he talked to me about possibly replacing him I thought that was exceptionally cool.

Q: How much effect did the uncertainty that's going on at Roush Racing, especially with the 99 team, have on this decision; though you also mentioned that sometimes there's just a time for a change? Was this the right time?

Burton: Uncertainty was certainly part of the issue. There is no way that I would go through, what I've been through this year, again. Financially, Roush Racing could not go through what they went through this year, again.

So that was certainly a factor. However, I wouldn't have left Roush Racing to go drive for Richard Childress Racing if I didn't think Richard Childress Racing and the 30 AOL team could put a team out there that could compete at a high level.

So it was a factor, but it wasn't the only factor. If I didn't think I had a position I could be successful in, over the next several years, then I wouldn't have left.

Q: Leaving Roush Racing, you've got to feel like they're in good hands with Carl Edwards -- who's one of the best young talents in the sport, maybe -- coming to your former ride?

Burton: Carl and I spoke (last) week. He called me to express concern that I would be upset. Carl is a friend of mine. I have a lot of admiration for Carl and I've done my very best to spend time with Carl and to help him with some issues.

I have no problem with that. I believe the 99 is going to compete very, very well. The 99 had turned the corner and we had started to run better. Things were looking good, from a competitive standpoint, and I think Carl will continue that.

Carl and I are a lot alike. I think we are both very good racecar drivers and I think we're very responsible in our actions and I think there are a lot of similarities between Carl and I.

Hopefully Carl will continue the legacy that I helped build at the 99. I wish them success. Obviously, in believing that we will have success at the 30 car, I wish and hope that the 99 has success.

I really mean that. I know most people don't believe that. Most people think that I'm lying and I hope the 99 does poorly (but) that's not the case. I have put a lot of heart and soul and blood and sweat and tears into that program and I hope that I left it in as good a shape as it could be in.

I really believe that they will run very, very well. One of my hardest decisions that I had in this process was leaving a team that was building to be really, really good; and I stand to put myself in a position to look bad, because I think they're going to run well.

That just means we've got to make the 30 run well. That's the focus: What do we do to make the 30 AOL car run the best that it can possibly run?