Weekend That Was: Texas

Last Sunday's Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway came to a fitting conclusion on a day wrapped in interesting subplots and budding racetrack soap operas. The event was won by Jeff Burton, who passed Matt Kenseth on the last lap to wrest the checkered flag from his former Roush Racing teammate. It was the only lap led all day by Burton, and it was the only one that mattered.

That he passed Kenseth, his teammate at Roush for four full seasons and parts of two others until Burton departed for his current job at Richard Childress Racing with 14 races left in the 2004 season, was, in a way, quite ironic and underscored the fact that the powers-that-be fielding teams in the sport don't always get it right.

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Burton once was the darling of Roush Racing, winning races and competing for points championships with the regularity now associated with the likes of other bigger names in the sport. But by the middle of the 2004 season, it appeared that more Roush resources were being poured into the Kenseth race team than the car being driven then by Burton.

Looking back now, this should not be perceived as any great revelation. It has the perception of a pattern at Roush, where Burton was not the only veteran driver in recent years whose equipment seemed to become somewhat less of a priority when drivers perceived by the organization as younger, more marketable and more on top of their overall game were ushered into the picture -- and eventually shoved the veterans out altogether.

Mark Martin, who finished third in Texas and has enjoyed a revival this season in the No. 01 Chevrolet of Ginn Racing, was another who fits that very description.

It is easy to forget that while driving Fords for Roush from 1997 through 2001, Burton won 17 times. Only Jeff Gordon with 39 wins and Dale Jarrett with 20 visited Victory Lane more often than Burton during that span.

But even as Burton was winning four times in 2000, Kenseth was moving toward replacing him as top dog at Roush -- and another young gun in Kurt Busch was beginning to make his way there, too. By 2002, when Roush Racing sent four teams forth for the full 36-race schedule, Burton was the only driver who failed to post a single victory. Kenseth won five times that year, Busch four and Martin once.

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.

Meanwhile, Earnhardt took the time to speak with reporters in what was described as a remarkably calm and upbeat manner, considering he had led for 96 laps. And when Busch's car got repaired and Busch's frantic team couldn't find young Kyle anywhere to get him back in it, Dale Jr. climbed in it and ran the last nine laps in the No. 5 Chevrolet -- after Earnhardt's own car had been sidelined by a blown motor.

Earnhardt said he did it because he has several friends on Kyle Busch's team and because they asked him to, adding: "I really appreciate them asking me. I was honored. It meant a lot to me."

Trail of destruction

Two wrecks in the space of 13 laps Sunday at Texas left four men disappointed, one irate, and yet another confused.

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More on maturity

Then, of course, there was the case of Tony Stewart on Sunday. Upset after the race because he felt he had been spun out earlier by rookie Juan Montoya, he even hinted that racing isn't fun for him any longer at this level and that when he "gets enough money" he might just up and quit.

Heading into this season, Stewart had amassed more than $57 million in career earnings for Joe Gibbs Racing -- not all of which he got to keep, of course. But we're guessing he might have enough left over from all that to hit all the all-u-can-eat buffets he wants for the rest of his life, if he's really serious about giving up racing -- which, of course, he is not.

As for Montoya, he's making lots of enemies but let's face it: He's racing aggressively in the same manner that Stewart and lots of others before him have done, and he'll win races because of it. Isn't that what all the drivers are supposed to be aspiring toward in this sport?

Dark day

At least give Stewart credit for what may have been Sunday's best post-race quote.

"The car was evil all day," Stewart said.

Pit stops

• It's hard to believe but it has been 33 races since Earnhardt last won, and 25 races since Gordon last won.

• Earnhardt dropped from 11th to 18th in points, while Martin moved back into the top 12 at 11th after sitting out the previous two races. And don't look now, but Chip Ganassi Racing teammates David Stremme and Montoya are lurking at 12th and 13th, respectively, in the standings. The top 12 at the end of the first 26 races qualify for the Chase.

• Montoya might have won his second Busch race on Saturday, if he hadn't jumped the gun coming out of the pits with 40 laps to go. Montoya hit the gas too quick and left a lugnut loose; otherwise, he would have been in the lead.

• Wonder what Teresa Earnhardt thought of Junior's impulsive decision to jump in Kyle Busch's car for the finish of Sunday's race. As admirable as it was, it gained Busch three points in the driver standings; wouldn't it be something if Busch qualifies for the Chase by three or fewer points over Earnhardt?

The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.