Dale Jarrett has had to adjust to a different crew chief for the past three races. Credit: Autostock

Shop Talk with... Burdett

Interim crew chief talks about living his dream -- temporarily

Robert Yates Racing's Jason Burdett grew up in stock car racing, but it wasn't until he followed a hometown friend, Shawn Parker, south from their native New York that he seriously thought he could reach the top of his profession.

A suspension to driver Dale Jarrett's crew chief, Slugger Labbe, caused Yates to elevate Burdett, 28, from his longtime position as Jarrett's car chief into the lead role for four races.

	Credit: Autostock
	Inside the Numbers Dale Jarrett at Pocono Starts 38 Wins 3 Top-fives 13 Top-10s 18 Laps Led 521 Avg. Start 15.7 Avg. Finish 14.9

Burdett has one race remaining in his temporary position, and he took a break from preparing for the Neighborhood Excellence 400 at Dover to talk about his experience as a crew chief, preparing for Pocono and what it takes to win there and working with an outgoing driver, among other topics.

Q: Jason, the circumstances of this opportunity aside, is this a dream assignment for you?

Burdett: Yeah, it is. Obviously, to be a crew chief, obviously, is my goal, eventually, for sure. I hate the circumstances that happened to put me in this position, but you have to take advantage of the situation and try to do what's best for you, too.

So it's definitely a dream situation, as far as being a crew chief. It would be a lot easier if we had everything totally figured out to where you could just come in and keep going with a package that we'd been running.

We're still searching for the package, so right now it's a lot of work.

Q: Is this a situation where you've sat and role-played in the past, saying 'What would I do if I was the crew chief?' And now you have a chance to put it into play?

Burdett: I think, as the car chief, yeah, you do. You have 100 ideas that roll through your mind, during practice or at any point during the weekend -- or even during the week -- where you say, 'Maybe I'd do this,' or whatever.

But in our situation with Slugger as the crew chief, we all have a really good relationship with each other and he takes our suggestions well. If we have a suggestion, he takes it and he considers it in his train of thought, too.

I guess there are probably some places that don't have that, but here, where we're all trying to work together as a team to make this keep working -- or to get better and to work better -- that everything that goes through my head, I could suggest.

Well now, the things that are going through my head aren't suggestions any more -- we do them. That's a big difference now because when you're sitting on top of the truck five minutes before practice starts, what you're getting ready to go see is what you've come up with -- and now it's Slugger suggesting stuff.

So it's a different role, but it's definitely fun.

Q: Have you taken the positive model you had previously, working with Slugger, and employed it with the guys that are now looking to you to make the final calls?

Burdett: Oh yeah -- absolutely -- because I don't have the experience. If you look at the crew chiefs up and down pit road, a lot of these guys have years and years of experience -- as crew chiefs -- not only working on the cars themselves but as crew chiefs.

So for me to come in and say we're just going to do it all my way would be crazy because I don't have the experience that even some of the guys on my own team have. Maybe it's in different forms of racing, but they have ideas of what they used to do in ASA, or whatever.

The shock guys know a lot more about shocks than I do and the engineers know a lot more about geometry stuff and how all those things affect the car, so I have to take all that stuff into consideration, plus listening to Dale and take his suggestions, too.

So really, anymore the crew chief has to be the guy that takes everybody's suggestions and tries to put it all together into one package.

Q: When Slugger gets back, after this weekend at Pocono, do you feel like this experience is going to make you a better car chief?

Burdett: Oh yeah, absolutely, because now, when you're the car chief and you're doing your normal, everyday job, a lot of the stuff at times, becomes a case of where you don't have to worry about those stupid little things.

Whereas now, when you're the crew chief, all those things run through your mind as practice is coming or during practice, to where you're thinking to yourself, 'when they changed that spring, did they get the wedge just right?' or 'did they get the height just right?'

When you're the car chief you're more worried about getting it right and getting it done, whereas when you're the crew chief you're worried about getting it done perfectly.

So now I think when Slugger does come back, it will help me realize how important every little thing is, when you go to make your final decision.

Q: From the team's standpoint, with 23 races left this season, what's the biggest concern you have, working with a driver that you already know is not coming back to your team?

Burdett: I'm not really sure. I think the biggest concern we have is not knowing who is going to drive the car, you know -- or if that's even a concern right now.

I think more than that, right now for us as a group is that a lot of the guys that work on this team have been here for a long time and they've supported Dale and they've supported Robert [Yates].

For all of us, we really want everything to work. We just want to run good, whether it be the last 23 races or the last 10. If it takes us 15 more to figure something out, well, that may be.

But I just think right now our biggest thing is not giving up and trying to keep making steps forward to keep making our cars better and our team stronger so that when Dale does leave at the end of the year, we're prepared for whatever comes.

Q: Does D.J.'s long history here at Robert Yates Racing make that easier to deal with, or more difficult since he's actually leaving?

Burdett: It's part of human nature that everybody feels bad that he's leaving. I think we all thought that we would be with him until he retired -- until the final race.

So I think from that standpoint I think everybody is maybe a little sad or whatever term you want to use -- that we're not going to be part of that. But on the same hand, too, we have to look forward for us and to try to make it better for us, down the road.

Q: How has D.J. reacted to working with you as crew chief, because I figure your long tenure, as car chief would make that an easier transition?

Burdett: Like you said, our team's been together for a long time and Slugger's still a big part of our team and even though he's not here in the garage or at the track he's still a big part of it.

After practices it's still a big thing that we have communication with him, myself and Dale -- and I've been with Dale and talked to Dale so much over the last few years that I think that's been an easy transition.

We get along well enough that it's not been a huge issue.

Q: Looking at Pocono and as far as the set-up of the racecar goes, what's your biggest concern about that racetrack?

Burdett: I think at Pocono you have to find a balance, because the attitude of the car makes a huge difference there because the straightaways are so long.

Typically, at most tracks, like the flatter mile-and-a-halfs, if you watch on TV the cars look higher in the back and lower in the front, and all that; whereas at Pocono there's a happy medium you have to find where you don't get the back so high that you're causing a lot of drag but yet you've still got to be able to turn in the corners.

So Pocono's tricky in the fact that to be fast you have to have all the aspects of the track down, you know? You can't just shoot for straightaway speed and not worry about the corners, because the corners are so big.

You've got to be able to get down the straightaways and through the corners. For us, we have a great engine program so the straightaways -- we might have a little extra room there -- but that's the biggest concern [is putting it all together].

Q: What is the biggest concern in getting through the corners at Pocono, because with those long straights you're pulling big miles-per-hour and there isn't much banking in those corners?

Burdett: Pocono is funny because all three corners are different. Turn 1 has got banking and it's a bigger corner, the Tunnel Turn is flatter and not as tight of a turn and then Turn 3 is tight with very little banking; so you're trying to find the happy medium between them all.

Very rarely are you good in all three corners. You've got to pick your spots and that's where Dale's good because he's raced there so often and won there so many times. So he knows the areas where he needs to be good enough to pass cars.

So that's what we'll try to work on, to get him comfortable.

Q: What do you enjoy the most about Pocono, and what do you enjoy the least?

Burdett: I think a lot of people would agree with me, but at Pocono, it seems like when you walk into Pocono or when you fly in there -- it's weird -- but you just feel relaxed there, for some reason.

I don't know what it is, whether it's just because when you go there it's usually cool weather, the track's kind of out there in the middle of nowhere and it's relaxed because there's no city hustle-bustle anywhere around you.

The people are nice and, like, we stay in houses there so after the day you can go back and grill out -- and a lot of the teams do the same thing. They'll stay at ski resorts or whatever and it's just a relaxing atmosphere.

As far as the least, there really isn't anything I don't like about it. I look forward to going to Pocono. Two times a year it's a fun place to go.

Q: Strategically, what's the most critical aspect of that race, to give you a shot to win the Pocono 500?

Burdett: The biggest thing at Pocono, is that you have to run it almost like a road course race, to the extent that you have to pit and put yourself in position to where you're towards the front at the end.

It's hard to pass a lot of cars at Pocono, so you've got to maintain track position as much as you can. So at the end of the day you've got to be towards the front.

It always seems like the first two or three cars, when they drop the green on that last restart -- or any restart during the race -- they check out and they're gone.

So if you're 10th, it's really hard to make up all the ground that you're going to lose to the leader. That's the biggest thing. You've got to play your fuel strategy and make sure you've got the best tires and you've got enough fuel to get to the end, at that point at the last caution, whenever it comes out.