Notes: Burton not pleased with newcomer McDowell

MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- Jeff Burton ran third in Sunday's Goody's Cool Orange 500 at Martinsville Speedway, led 37 laps in the process and took over the Sprint Cup points lead.

Jeff Burton

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Positive thoughts, however, weren't on Burton's mind when he climbed from his No. 31 Chevrolet. His attention turned immediately to Michael McDowell, who finished 26th in his Cup debut but, in Burton's view, might have cost the series frontrunner a chance to overtake Denny Hamlin for the victory.

As Burton chased Hamlin in heavy traffic during the closing laps, McDowell raced him hard -- too hard, to hear Burton tell it.

"I thought we were going to be in pretty good shape, but that kid in the double zero car [McDowell], he needs to learn some manners or he is going to get taught," Burton said. "He can choose to do it the way he wants to -- the hard way or the easy way. But one way or another, he'll get taught."

McDowell, 23, defended himself after the race.

"I was just focusing on trying to get around the 28 [Travis Kvapil] and trying to stay on the lead lap," said McDowell, who finished three laps down. "The 11 [Hamlin] got by, and we were able to run with him and the 31. When he [Burton] got to us, when he finally got underneath us, I tried to give him as much [room] as I can, but at the same time the 11 is racing the 28 -- and you don't hear the 11 complaining about the 28 right now."

Surprise spin KOs Johnson

For a while Sunday, it appeared as though two-time defending Cup champion Jimmie Johnson might have the car to win his fourth consecutive race at Martinsville. A mishap on Lap 296, however, knocked the No. 48 Chevy back to 22nd position -- and Johnson never saw it coming.

Johnson was running comfortably in third when Greg Biffle ran hard into Turn 1 and started a chain-reaction wreck that sent Johnson spinning toward the Turn 2 wall. Biffle's Ford clipped Ryan Newman's Dodge, which slid into Johnson's Chevy.

"We had fantastic stops, and we had a shot to win [Sunday] when it was all said and done," said Johnson, who rallied to finish fourth. "We lost a lot of track position early. ... It was unfortunate, but that's short-track racing."

Short strokes

As cold as it was in Martinsville (41 degrees at race time), it was colder in Blacksburg, Va. Icy conditions prevented Virginia Tech football coach Frank Beamer from making the 50-mile helicopter commute from Blacksburg to the speedway, where he was scheduled to serve as grand marshal. Beamer conveyed his apologies in a conference call Sunday morning. ... Photographer T. Taylor Warren, who has shot all 50 Daytona 500s, was on the other side of the camera lens Sunday, posing in Victory Lane with Hamlin. Warren received the Clay Earles Award, named for the founder of Martinsville Speedway, in recognition of his contribution to motorsports.