With two victories, Jeff Burton is tied for the most wins all-time at PIR. Credit: Autostock

Burton eager to get back into Victory Lane at PIR

Big things were expected of Jeff Burton this season. After leaving Roush Racing 22 races into the 2004 season, Burton joined Richard Childress Racing for the final 14 events and posted 12 top-15 finishes.

This season, however, has not been what anyone associated with the No. 31 Chevrolet expected. Through 34 races, the team has as many DNFs (3) as top-five finishes and only six top-10s.

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Last week at Texas, Burton limped across the line 30th to end a streak of three consecutive top-15 finishes that included back-to-back top-10s.

Now comes 1-mile Phoenix International Raceway (3 p.m. ET Sunday on NBC), site of Burton's last Cup victory on Oct. 28, 2001.

"I think that the short-track type racing has been the strength for Team Cingular this season, for sure," Burton said. "We ran third at Phoenix [in April] and had a very fast car at the end of the race. This is a race we feel very strongly about based on the fact that we did run well there in the spring.

"A lot has changed since then. I think we are a better team. We feel good about Phoenix. It's a track where I've had a lot of success in the past. We tested there in the spring and it's a place where we definitely feel like we can have success."

Burton is tied with Davey Allison and Dale Earnhardt Jr. for the most wins (2) at the track, and has five top-five finishes andsix top-10s in 12 starts at PIR.

After his April finish, Burton emerged from the car with little fanfare, which caught some people off-guard. After all, it was his highest finish with RCR before a second-place run at Bristol in August.

"When a team is 15th in points and hasn't won a race, a lot of people expect that team to be really excited when they run third. We certainly should not take it for granted and think that it's not a good thing, because it's a very good thing for any team," Burton said. "But, if we start getting really excited that third is good enough, we have a problem.

Inside the Chase Standings entering Phoenix Rank Driver Pts. Behind 1. T. Stewart 6,255 -- 2. J. Johnson 6,217 -38 3. C. Edwards 6,178 -77 4. G. Biffle 6,133 -122 5. M. Martin 6,132 -123 6. M. Kenseth 6,120 -135 7. R. Newman 6,081 -174 8. Ku. Busch 5,974 -281 9. R. Wallace 5,940 -315 10. J. Mayfield 5,848 -407 • Series Standings, click here FedEx PreviewNBC/TNT's Marty Snider previews the action at Phoenix Sign up for TrackPass now BUY YOUR NEXTEL DRIVER PHONE

"I don't want to be part of a team that gets all pumped up and fired up because we ran third. We need to position ourselves so that we can be pumped up and fired up when we win and when we run third we can look at it and say 'That was a great race, but what could we have done better?'. That is the attitude and environment that we are going to build."

Now winless in his past 146 starts, Burton said he still is focused on returning to Victory Lane.

"If you would have said to me, 'It's going to be four years before you win again,' I would have thought, no way," he said of his last victory. "If you were to say to me 'It could be four years', I would say, yes, I understand that. I know I kind of contradict myself a little bit in saying that, but as a competitor you want to believe that there is no way I won't win in that amount of time.

"As a guy that understands how hard the sport is, I understand how that can happen. It is a very frustrating thing. Although I will say, no matter what happens to you individually, life will go on for everybody else. Just when you think the entire world is going to end because you think the world revolves around you, you find out really quickly it doesn't.

"I think I've done a nice job of staying focused," Burton said. "I don't know how many races it's been since I've won, I just don't know. Other people do, but they look at books and stats to find out. I don't pay attention to that, I pay attention to what did we do last week and what are we going to do better this week. That's how I live my life."