Jeff Burton is currently seventh in the Nextel Cup Series standings. Credit: Autostock

Jeff Burton: RCR hosting my 'I'm back' party

In a bygone era, one purer than this, the American athlete became synonymous with the city that played host to his brilliance.

Lou Gehrig and Paul Hornung. Bill Russell and Gordie Howe.

	MARTY SMITH •   E-mail Marty •   Opinion Archive

Racing is similar, to a degree. We associate great drivers with the automobiles and sponsors they rode to glory. Richard Petty: 43, STP Dodge, big block Hemi. Davey Allison: 28, Texaco Ford Thunderbird, Robert Yates Racing, Alabama Gang. Dale Earnhardt: 3, GM Goodwrench Chevy, black.

But these days, with free agency and salary caps, and the general impatience and politics that coincide with them, rare is the athlete that finishes where he started, retires in the uniform he made famous, and that made him famous.

Jerry Rice is the consummate example. He's the greatest wide receiver in NFL history, arguably the greatest football player of all time. He dominated opponents for 16 seasons in San Francisco, winning three Super Bowls in obliterating the NFL record book.

Upon retirement last September, he'd set 38 NFL records, including touchdowns (208), receptions (1,549), receiving yards (22,895), consecutive games with a catch (274) and yards from scrimmage (23,540). He was also voted most valuable player in the Super Bowl, and was a 13-time Pro Bowl selection.

He never looked right in the silver and black, and Seattle Seahawks slate certainly didn't suit him. He retired a Denver Bronco. Talk about awkward. In five years, that will be a trivia question on ESPN Classic.

Ten years from now folks will remember him as Jerry Rice, the San Francisco treat, who held onto past glory a bit too long.

I tell you this because that's how many folks perceived Jeff Burton's move to Richard Childress Racing -- a last-gasp effort to hold onto what might have been.

I could sit and write around the following interview, input quotes where applicable. But sometimes it's best to just let a man go. The conversation I had with Burton Wednesday afternoon is one such instance.

This is Jeff Burton, raw. Enjoy.

Q: Is running well, being a contender, sweeter now than it was when you were winning so much at Roush, because you've seen the other side, seen what it's like to run like crap?

Burton: That's a valid point. No matter how hard to you try, you tend to take things for granted a little bit. It's natural. I've made the comment several times that I'm used to running up front. I'm not used to winning every race, because I never did that. Nor did anybody else.

But I'm used to contending, ya know? And you do get used to that, and in many ways you think it's normal, when in fact it's a very difficult thing to do. I don't take it for granted anymore that you're going to run well.

	Credit: Autostock
	Inside the Numbers The most improved drivers of 2006, ranked by rise in the Nextel Cup standings Driver '06 Rank '05 Rank +/- M. Kenseth 2 22 +20 C. Mears 13 27 +14 K. Kahne 6 18 +12 D. Earn. Jr. 4 15 +11 R. Gordon 28 39 +11 J. Burton 7 16 +9 Ky. Busch 10 19 +9 J. Green 22 31 +9 B. Labonte 24 29 +5 M. Martin 3 6 +3

I don't take for granted anymore that you're going to run bad. I think you do the best you can and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

(Running well) means a lot to me because I really want my peers to respect me. And more important than that, there's a lot of people that, no matter how they run, they believe they're really good and that they should run better than they're running.

I always considered that to be arrogance. But I have a touch of that in me, too.

I can look myself in the mirror a whole lot easier today and think, 'Hey, what I've been feeling about myself all this time isn't wrong.' I think you do have to question yourself.

If you don't you are arrogant. But it don't hurt, running good, I'll tell you that.

And the other side of that is, (having been) one of the contenders for wins and championships on a weekly basis, I understand that what we're doing now isn't enough. It's better than what we were doing but it's still not enough.

People tend to get a little bit content when they're doing well, and don't try to do great. And I don't have to worry about that because I've seen both sides of it, and it's very clear to me that great's better than good.

Q: Let's hop back to that respect comment for a moment. Do you feel like you're respected any less from your peers for running 20th instead of third, even when they know full well that a lot of the time the driver's not the problem?

Burton: I've never felt less respected. But there are a tremendous amount of drivers and teams in this sport that I never had the opportunity to race against when I was doing well.

So there is a group of people in this sport that have never seen that part, seen that side. And I want them to see it.

I'm not contending that I'm better than anybody else. I'm not saying that by any means. But I feel I can hold my own pretty well.

And my effort will never have to be questioned and my dedication will never be questioned...

Q: Hold on... Has your dedication been questioned in the past? Was it at Roush?

Burton: Not that I'm aware of. Although how, if you've got a guy that's won a bunch of races...

The way the whole thing went down was, me and Mark (Martin) were both winning races. Matt (Kenseth) came in, he stared winning. Kurt (Busch) came in, and the only team that won that year (2001) was me and my team.

We won two races and finished 10th in points. Then we went the next several years and we were the only team that couldn't run worth a crap. I was (at Roush) for a long time, so people respected me there because of what I'd done, but we were a team that was lagging behind the other ones.

And I think it's natural to start to question a driver.

I'm much smarter today than I was then and understand a whole lot more now why we didn't or couldn't run as well as the other teams could, not by anyone's doing. It was as much my fault as anybody else's. I wasn't driving as good cars as they were.

Mark Martin will tell you the same thing. And it was hard because we didn't understand that.

Q: How much of the drive within Jeff Burton right now is solely to prove to anyone who thought Jeff Burton lost it, that you didn't lose it? Is there a lot of drive within you from that respect?

Burton: There is some of that, but there's way more internally. I have a lot of pride, and I have an ego, and I do this because it's what I love to do. But I don't want to run 20th. And certainly there's part of me that wants to show...

I don't feel like I have to prove anything to Matt Kenseth. I don't think I have to prove anything to Mark Martin. I don't feel like I have to prove anything to Kevin Harvick or to Dale Jarrett or to anyone like that.

But I do think that Carl Edwards and Ryan Newman and some guys that were the next generation, they haven't seen me when I was at my best. I want them to see that. And I'm not being cocky.

I'm not saying I'm gonna whip their ass. I'm not saying that. But we race each other. We compete. It's what we do. And I want their best, and I want to bring them my best. And again, I'm not being cocky when I say that, I just relish the opportunity to compete at the highest level.

A great deal of professional athletes make a move late in their careers. It's like their 'going away' thing. This isn't my going away thing. Moving to RCR is my 'I'm coming back' thing.

Go look at professional athletes across the board -- and I'm talking about the great ones -- how many people left the team they were very successful at, weren't having the same success, went somewhere else and then you didn't see them in two years? That happens a lot.

And when I went to Childress, I was intent on not looking back. And I still am intent on not looking back, and saying that was my goodbye thing. It's my intention for it be my, 'Hey, I'm back thing.' That's Richard's intention, too.

Q: When you made the decision to go over there Childress was running like a box of s---. But you told us, 'I see the light. We need 18 months.' And sure as heck, all three cars can win right now. That's asking a lot of Clint Bowyer, but I swear he could do it.

Burton: Oh yeah, no question. (Bowyer) had as good a chance as anybody Sunday (at Dover). On long runs they were badass. No question in my mind, with the commitment that Richard puts in, the effort that goes in, the finances that are available, the commitment to excellence that's up there, we should run well.

And if we don't, we're underachieving.

I didn't have to leave (Roush). I left because I thought it was in my best interest and Roush's best interest and Childress' best interest. I thought that, for whatever reason, I wasn't being as successful as I needed to be at Roush.

It wasn't that Jack wasn't trying. It wasn't that I wasn't trying. It wasn't that the crew chiefs weren't trying. We got in a hole and we were having trouble digging out of it. I did think we were right there at the verge of digging out of it.

I told my wife, told my business manager, told Richard, told Carl Edwards, they're going to outrun us for a while. There was no question in my mind, because I knew what we were doing in preparing cars. I knew the better stuff was coming.

I knew we weren't going to run as well as we needed to run and that the 99 car was going to run good. At the same time I went to Childress believing we could make it work. RCR has a lot of smart people up there, man. They have what it takes to be successful.

We're not where we need to be yet. We have room to grow. But we have good drivers. We have great crew chiefs. We have great engineers. Bobby Hutchens is a wonderful leader. It's going to take time, but we're on the way.

The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.