INDIANAPOLIS -- Juan Montoya, Mark Martin and Kasey Kahne are the names most mentioned when it comes to drivers with the best chance of recording their first Brickyard 400 victory on Sunday. Perhaps it's time to add Jeff Burton to that list.

On a day when the track temperature at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway reached 145 degrees, Burton was the best on a surface that was at its hottest and slickest. Burton posted the fastest time of Saturday's first afternoon session -- in conditions that could be most like Sunday's race. And just to show that wasn't a fluke, Burton backed it up with the second-best lap in Happy Hour, and was still running laps at over 173 mph near the end of the session.

“

I think the competition's tougher today than it was a year ago. I think the race will be more competitive. I'll be shocked if we have the kind of race here that that we had last year.

”

-- JEFF BURTON

In fact, Richard Childress cars swept the top three positions in the first practice and Clint Bowyer was right behind Burton in the second, giving the team tremendous confidence heading into Sunday. All three qualified in the top 10, with Burton scheduled to roll off 10th.

"Richard Childress Racing has done an awesome job of getting us good equipment," Burton said after his qualifying run earlier in the day. "Our engines are even stronger than last year, and we're able to drive the cars a little more aggressively and put up good times. We've got better stuff yet to come, and I'm proud to be a part of this."

There were no official incidents listed, although Reed Sorenson slid out of the groove in one of Indy's 90-degree corners and lightly slapped the outside wall with the right side of his car early in Happy Hour. Damage was not sufficient to require anything but some minor cosmetic alterations in Gasoline Alley.

A hot and slick track could make for a completely different Brickyard 400 than one year ago, when drivers were still antsy about tire issues from the previous year. Burton expects the racing to be stepped up a notch or three.

"The last race here ... wasn't caution free, but it was all but caution free," Burton said. "It went forever. I'll be surprised if we see that.

"I think the competition's tougher today than it was a year ago. I think the race will be more competitive. I'll be shocked if we have the kind of race here that that we had last year. The early part got strung on out a lot."

Burton's best finish here is a fifth, but he won the pole at Indy at 2006 and led 87 laps before fading at the end. He then scored back-to-back top-10 finishes before winding up 25th a year ago. He's aware of the apparent connection between winning this race and winning the championship, but doesn't have a definitive theory to explain it.

"Maybe it has something to do with the team peaking at the right time," Burton said. "I think sometimes when you have an off weekend and you come back, I think the best teams come to the top. I know it sounds ridiculous, but this is such a long season.

"You get into the grind of it, a week off sometimes you lose focus a little bit. I think the best teams rise to the top after a week off. You know, that may have as much to do with it as anything. But I honestly don't know."

Jimmie Johnson has won three of the past four races here, but for Burton, that's not surprising.

"Well, he's been good everywhere," Burton said. "Last year he did a good job on the restart, got by Mark [Martin] on the outside.

"Once he got by Mark, I think Mark had the better car, but once he got in front with the aero deal, he wasn't getting back by. They've been fast everywhere. This is a track where you have to come here and run really well."

He does know that at least in the garage area, winning the Brickyard 400 is still a huge deal, as it has been since he first raced here in the inaugural event in 1994.

"I don't think it's changed a whole lot," Burton said. "I think we came here and there was a lot of hype about being here. There was a lot of excitement about being here, and I think that excitement is still here.

"The history of this racetrack is so large. NASCAR didn't build this racetrack. We're here as guests, and I think that after being here for a while, we all have a little more appreciation for that. But honestly I ran the first race here, and whenever we come here, I feel like it's that same enthusiasm."

And Burton would be more than a little enthused if he's running out front when the checkered flag falls on Sunday.