Weekend That Was: Texas (cont'd)

The next year, Busch won on four occasions while Kenseth and another newcomer to the Roush stable, Greg Biffle, won once each. Burton and Martin started all 36 races, failed to win a single race and registered a total of only eight top-five finishes between them. In 2004, Burton managed only one top-five finish in 22 races for Roush before moving on to RCR.

Funny thing is, by the end of his run with Roush the word was that Burton was too bland in addition to not being able to drive his cars fast enough. That added up to trouble when it came to attracting sponsorship dollars. What was left unsaid, even un-whispered, was that it apparently made him more invisible even to team owner Jack Roush -- who eagerly embraced the likes of Biffle, Busch and eventually Carl Edwards as the next big things in Cup driving and now is attempting to do the same with rookie David Ragan.

Epitomy of class

Jeff Burton did it again Sunday, says Josh Pate. At Texas, he made a clean move on the racetrack and showed why he's a model citizen and driver.

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You've got to give Roush credit for attempting to discover new talent and hand out opportunities. But that hat of his might sometimes blind him to the fact that younger doesn't always mean better.

So guess what? It is now more evident than ever that Burton can still drive, as can Martin. And as far as marketability, it's hard to believe that anyone could be more marketable than the articulate, outspoken Burton, who offers his honest opinion in a frank, break-it-down-for-the-layman manner that endears him to all whenever he is approached about virtually any NASCAR subject.

In fact, if Burton wasn't such a nice guy, he would have more than his current total of 19 career wins. He would have moved Kyle Busch out of the way for a victory at Bristol earlier this season, for example.

But Burton prides himself on racing people clean. That's why Kenseth tried to treat him with the same courtesy and respect, while nonetheless racing him hard, down the stretch last Sunday.

Burton is now only eight points off the lead in the driver points championship standings, trailing Jeff Gordon. He's got a great sponsor, stars in some of the best television commercial spots of any driver, and a future at nearly 40 years of that is as bright as the one he once appeared to have at Roush before it suddenly disappeared three years ago.

Most important of all, Jeff Burton appears to have a boss in Richard Childress who has an unwavering belief in him as a driver.

Maturity meter

It is amazing how one Nextel Cup race can unveil so many different levels of maturity, or lack thereof, amongst its participants. Take last Sunday's race at Texas Motor Speedway, for instance.

While Burton and Martin conducted themselves with class, as always, others weren't soaring so high on the maturity meter.

"How's that Miller Lite taste? Tastes great!" Kyle Busch shouted to teammates through his in-car radio when big brother Kurt passed Dale Earnhardt Jr. to take the lead in a front-row battle of beer sponsors.

Yet after Busch ran into the back of Earnhardt later and ruined both his day and Earnhardt's (the wreck really was the fault of Tony Stewart, who spun in front of both of them), an angry Busch stormed out of the track without even speaking to waiting reporters. (Continued)