Jeff Burton won the Busch Series race on Saturday at Atlanta. Credit: Autostock

Conversation: J. Burton

HAMPTON, Ga. -- What a difference a year makes.

Jeff Burton isn't all the way back to his late-1990s form, but it is clear that he has made some strides with Richard Childress Racing.

RCR lacked horsepower and handling last season, but the team went to work over the offseason, and all three of its teams have been vastly improved.

Burton spoke to NASCAR.COM's Ryan Smithson just before he won the Nicroette 300 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Q: Jeff, is there any specific reason why your cars are handling so much better this year?

	Credit: Autostock
	Inside the Numbers Jeff Burton in Cup races at Bristol Motor Speedway Starts 24 Wins 0 Top-5s 6 Top-10s 9 Poles 0 Laps Led 55 Avg. Start 24.0 Avg. Finish 19.0

Burton: There are a lot of reasons. Our chassis program is better, our aero program is better, or engine program is better, our engineering program is better.

There are a lot of things at RCR that have been stepped up and improved, and I wouldn't say it was one thing in particular that we have been able to execute on that has helped us, but it is a general overall improvement of the company.

You just can't have a good chassis or a good body anymore. You have got to have a lot of stuff. We have been able to step it up in a lot of areas.

Now, I don't want anyone to think that we are done. I don't want anyone to think that we are where we need to be. We have not won any races yet. There is still work to be done. Everyone is still working hard. We are not stopping. But in general, our cars are better because all the programs that support our crew chiefs and engineers are better.

Q: I saw a quote last week that basically said this: Young drivers are more aggressive on the track nowadays because they tend to spend less time in the Busch Series.

Burton: I think in some ways, any time the athletes in any sport get younger -- and that is what we have seen here -- the experience level is down, obviously. The exposure to different situations happens on a larger stage.

A lot of it has to do with -- plain and simple -- you're 21 years old and you have been racing cars for five years. It is just an experience thing.

But I will say this: I think the younger drivers, grouping them all up and saying, "They are all like this or all like that," I think that is wrong. I think that everybody is different and this sport has always has experiences with rookies that they don't have with experienced people because of a lack of experience.

That is the way it will always be. But there are more young people today and more less-experienced drivers today than we have had in the past. That brings up a reason to talk about it, but overall, we really do not have a problem with young drivers that don't do the right thing on the track.

When we do have a problem, it gets blown out of proportion a little bit and everyone tries to lump up all the young drivers and don't think that is fair.

Q: Is there a young driver you have seen where you say, "That is a template for how it should be done?"

Burton: There has been a lot of them. I hate to single one out -- and I am not going to -- but if you really think about it, how much trouble do the young drivers cause?

We go to Daytona and Talladega, and most of the wrecks are caused by experienced drivers. I just think it has been blown out of proportion a little bit.

Q: A baseball player peaks at 30, a football player at 26. Is NASCAR like other sports, meaning, is there a peak age for the athlete?

Burton: Let me back up one second. I do think that where the experienced drivers get frustrated with the younger drivers is that the younger drivers don't know when, in some cases, an appropriate time to do something.

We have some older drivers that do the same thing. There is an appropriate time for a driver to give 110 percent to keeping a guy behind you.

There is an appropriate time for you to care more about your lap time and I think that is an experience thing and the experienced drivers get upset because they don't know when to make that decision.

Anyways. I just wanted to add that. Your other question was?

Q: When do you guys peak in NASCAR?

Burton: Again, I think it is an individual thing. I don't think that you can say that Mark Martin will peak at the same time that Dale Jarrett will or that Dale Jarrett will peak at the same time that Tony Stewart will. It has a lot to do with your state of mind.

I honestly believe that motorsports is one of those sports that age isn't as big of a factor. And it is more about mentally, are you willing to put into it, do you still have the desire and have the hunger, more so than reaction time and ability, as opposed to basketball, where you wear yourself down so much.

Jeff Burton hugs owner Richard Childress in Victory Lane. Credit: Autostock

Nicorette 300 Results Pos. Driver Make 1. Jeff Burton Chevy 2. Kasey Kahne Dodge 3. Greg Biffle Ford 4. Matt Kenseth Ford 5. J.J. Yeley Chevy 6. Jason Leffler Chevy 7. Brian Vickers Chevy 8. Burney Lamar Chevy 9. Jamie McMurray Dodge 10. Paul Menard Chevy • Complete results, click here • Complete standings, click here Victory LaneJeff Burton takes the checkered flag in the Nicorette 300 Top finishersKahne, Biffle and Yeley talk about their day Final lapsJeff Burton tries to hold off the field Tough breakNewman blows a tire and hits the wall Blown tirePolesitter Kyle Busch's tire explodes on Lap 43 Sign up for TrackPass now BUY THE NEXTEL i836

In this sport, we have time to recover and we have time for our bodies to recover. To me, it isn't about age as it is a thing about what state of mind that you're in. What do you want to do?

I will tell you right now, I have raced with Mark Martin for years and years, and I have raced with him when someone would have said that he was in his prime, and I don't see the difference. Mark Martin is as good as he was 10 years ago.

Q: That was kind of my question. Is Mark Martin at the top of his game right now?

Burton: Mark is, at the very least, level in his game. And that is what you see, you see people -- and everybody is different -- Tony Stewart got to his peak pretty quick and there is not much more for him to improve.

He is going to level off. Tony Stewart's opportunity to improve is limited because he is so talented, anyway. I think that as opposed to football, where your speed goes down and you're more prone to injury, those kinds of things, you start to have declined performance.

In this sport, it is not as physical as that. For a driver, as long as he is mentally focused, then there is no physical degradation.

Q: So, is Mark as good as he was 10 years ago? Unequivocally. We will be as good as he is 10 years from now?

Burton: No, because he doesn't want to be. He wants to race, but not on this level. If mark wanted to race for the next three years, he could do this at the same level he is at now, as long as his team stepped up to the plate and kept up with everything that happens.

Mark Martin could still do it three years from now, but he doesn't want to do it three years from now.

Q: We'll go to a less serious note. Your State Farm commercials are good. When was the last time you had an accident, and was it your fault?

Burton: The last time that I had an accident, it was not my fault. A lady pulled out in front of me, and I hit her. It was not my fault. We hit nonetheless. I have been in several when I was younger that were my fault.

Q: Did she know who you were?

Burton: She is actually a neighbor of mine and we lived on the lake. She lived across the cove from me, and it hit her. She was a neighbor of mine.

Q: Did you have to pay her off so she wouldn't tell the story?

Burton: It was her fault! She paid me off! It was her fault, man! You only pay people off with its your fault!

Q: Jeff, you're a NASCAR driver. You couldn't get stopped?!

Burton: Ha, no. A.J. Foyt couldn't have missed this one. We actually didn't get the police involved, we settled it as two adults would, and she took care of it, and off we went.