Burton classy in both driving style ... and victory

FORT WORTH, Texas -- He's done it again. On Sunday, Jeff Burton made a clean move on the racetrack and showed why he's the model citizen in a town that's gone corrupt with violence.

For three weeks people wondered why Burton didn't punt Kyle Busch as the two came to the white flag at Bristol. Burton's nose was inches away from Busch's rear bumper as they came off Turn 4, but he let off. His nose was inches away coming through the final turn, but Burton stayed low -- so low that he likely lost momentum that could have carried him to victory. He didn't try to wreck Busch. In fact, he tried not to and ended up losing because of it.

• Send Josh your thoughts ...

"Knocking someone out of the way is a little bit of pleasure for about two minutes," Burton said. "But you didn't win the race. You just give up some integrity to win a trophy. That's not what I'm about and that's not what this team is about. We're going to do it the right way -- we're going to win races with credibility. Right, wrong or indifferent, that's who I am."

So after three and a half laps of toying with Matt Kenseth -- pulling alongside him only to tuck back behind him on the straightaways -- Burton made the final attempt stick. He didn't wreck him. In fact, he tried not to and ended up winning because of it.

"After Bristol everybody acts as if I gave Kyle Busch the race. Kyle Busch won [that] race," Burton said. "Matt Kenseth put himself in a position to win this race. Fortunately we found a way to get by him."

Burton's inability to allow himself to wreck Busch at Bristol may be trumped by the historic backdrop that was planted in Busch winning the first Car of Tomorrow race. Burton's ability to get around his former teammate to become the first two-time winner at Texas Motor Speedway may be overshadowed by Dale Earnhardt Jr. driving someone else's car or a 13-lap stretch that changed the complexion of the Samsung 500.

But this is good racing.

"I've never seen a boring race," Burton said after his victory. "What the hell can be boring about cars going 200 mph, 43 of them, on a racetrack? You don't get many races like what you had [Sunday]. Nor does every basketball game get triple overtime."

You don't get many races like you had Sunday because you don't get many drivers like Burton.

Kyle Busch, take note. It was Busch who wrecked as he and Burton came across the finish line in the Busch Series race at Las Vegas on March 10. Burton won and proceeded on his cool-down lap while a frustrated Busch got out of his car and walked toward the garage. Before going to Victory Lane, Burton drove to Busch's abandoned car, then followed his footsteps to make sure his competitor was OK. The two shook hands and that was that.

Since then, Busch won at Bristol, promptly got out of his Car os Tomorrow and declared his distaste. Then there was Sunday, when "a miscommunication," according to crew chief Alan Gustafson, between Busch and his team led to the driver being absent after the crew spent more than 75 laps behind the wall fixing the thing so they could improve one position in the results.

Burton becomes first repeat winner at TMS

For the first time in Texas Motor Speedway history, a driver has visited Victory Lane twice as Jeff Burton passes Matt Kenseth on the final lap to win the Samsung 500.

• Complete story

Juan Montoya, take note. After two consecutive races of wrecking lead-lap cars then going on to earn top-20 lead-lap finishes, the learning curve is getting a little bumpier when the friends diminish.

With the week-in and week-out drama that plays out because Driver X wrecked this guy, or Driver X didn't do that, or Driver X still has a lot to learn, each race its talk, talk, talk.

Meanwhile, Burton is walking.

Remember the Daytona 500 finish? Hard to believe that was just two months ago. But while Kevin Harvick and Mark Martin were dueling across the finish line as half the field was creating a junkyard on the front straightaway, Burton quietly watched it all while moving from ninth to third.

Burton was competing for the victory the next week at California before spinning his tires on the final restart and falling from second to fourth with two laps to go.

He was running second in the closing laps at Las Vegas before pitting too early on a caution with 15 laps to go forced him to the end of the longest line. The 15th-place finish was his worst this season.

He started 32nd at Atlanta and by the time the checkered flew he was fourth, unnoticed.

He started 29th at Bristol before becoming Mr. Clean as the laps wound down.

He started 19th at Martinsville before finishing sixth -- something nobody knew because they were watching the Jimmie Johnson/Jeff Gordon battle.

And now he's finally got victory No. 1 for 2007. It was a good story when winless Jeff Burton made the Chase last year. Then he solidified it by winning two weeks after that at Dover. Now he's made believers out of anyone who thought the tell-it-like-it-is veteran who left Roush Racing halfway through the 2004 season was washed up.

"At some point the rubber has to hit the road and that's results," Burton said. "The results come when you're on the last lap."

Burton was asked on Friday about what he thinks of the recent domination by Hendrick Motorsports drivers, who had won the previous four events heading into Sunday's race.

He then rolled off a list of teams he believes are the sport's pinnacle: Gordon, Johnson, Tony Stewart ... and himself. No flinching. No hesitation. No pause. Maybe that's why team owner Richard Childress hired him.

"I'll be honest -- I feel like a guy who's come back," Burton said as he sat at the very table former teammates Kenseth and Martin just left -- the former teammates he beat on Sunday afternoon.

"My enthusiasm is as high as it's ever been, my excitement is as high as it's ever been and I hope that people look at me and say I can do it again. I firmly believe that -- I don't believe that I forgot how to drive. Some people forgot that I can drive. Richard Childress didn't."

The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.