Burton succeeding despite bad breaks late in race

HAMPTON. Ga. -- If Jeff Burton can muster through the little things, he should be in for another big year.

Burton recorded his third top-five in four starts -- only one of four drivers to do so -- with a fourth-place finish Sunday in the Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway and sits third in the driver standings, just 11 points behind leader Mark Martin.

AP

Jeff Burton

Burton wins Atlanta

Jeff Burton took advantage of some bad luck on pit road for Kyle Busch to win the Nicorette 300 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. It's Burton's second consecutive Busch Series victory.

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"There were times in the race we had the best car, especially on long runs," Burton said. "We got off in the middle portion of the race but when it counted at the start we were really good and at the end we were really good."

The No. 31 Chevrolet started 32nd and within 40 laps had improved his track position by 19 spots. He never ran lower than 13th after that and Burton thought he had a chance to win, until ...

"We had something wrong with the fueling system," Burton said. "We kept losing spots in the pits because something was wrong with the fueling system. It wouldn't take fuel. We [had] to wait to drive the car before we could leave so we kept losing spots. We keep having little things like that."

This is the third consecutive race a small mishap hurt the No. 31 team.

At California, Burton spun his tires on the green-white-checkered restart and dropped to fourth. In Las Vegas, Burton had ignition problems late in the race and was forced to pit when pit road was closed, which meant he would be moved to the end of the longest line when the race resumed. He salvaged a 15th-place finish.

Burton was hoping to make it a wild finish between three Chevrolets on Sunday, but instead he had to watch it unfold.

"I was supposed to be in the middle of it but I wasn't close enough," Burton said. "I had a good seat and obviously at different times in the race the 20 [Tony Stewart] and the 48 [Jimmie Johnson] were really fast. The 48 was fast and he's been hard to guard this year; no big surprise."

Burton's start isn't a surprise, either. He is simply following up a stellar 2006 season when he made the Chase and held the points lead until a blown engine at Martinsville.

"We have been really consistent and we keep putting ourselves in a position, but we've just got to get these little things behind us," Burton said. "Between me at California making a mistake and these little bitty things that keep taking us out of a chance to win, we'll keep fighting and see what we can make happen.

"We keep putting ourselves in position and it will happen for us. That's all we can do. We're not trying to finish third, fourth, fifth; we're trying to win races."

In the Busch Series, Burton has two victories this season, including Saturday when tires were a concern after the Nicorette 300.

"I was nervous going into the race but we didn't have any tire issues," Burton said. "We kept changing the car and trying to make it better and had inconsistent runs but I don't think that's the tire's fault."