JEFF BURTON Preseason Thunder Interview

Here's some insider news from one of the many press interviews held at Preseason Thunder at Daytona last week:

Jeff Burton will be driving the No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing racing this year.

They're pretty excited about the upcoming year though like everyone else, still holds a bit of reservation with the no testing rule. Despite that, they feel their engine program has improved and they feel good about coming to Daytona, despite the unknowns.

He touched on how though we've been hearing about the proving grounds in relation to questions about the testing ban, it's was interesting to hear that the proving grounds are nothing new to the major players (teams) and that teams are headed to Rockingham and anything else they can do to get some testing under their belts.

And as I've observed and about to mention, he put out there that this is not a literal testing ban, but it's more a testing restriction. So teams will still be testing, but it's just seems so much more apparent due to the lack of track time the fans are used to seeing at Daytona.

Burton also noted how other facilities are looking to update their tracks with the intent of now being usable as a testing area.

The one thing Jeff sees as to what the team needs to improve on is speed. They need to lead more laps and be in the position to win more races.

He added it's not just about throwing money at the car, but it's also in the hands of the driver as "The drivers have a huge play in how fast our cars go, so we have to be willing to look at ourselves and try to find a way to be better, as well."

This in my mind would equate to how aggressive or not one would be hitting the corners, coming out of the corners, the meticulous approach to ones line. They all play a factor. It's been my experience that the less aggressive one is at the front of a fuel run, and you get to run without a yellow interrupting your fuel run, then there is a slight reward at the end of the fuel run as far as how much your tires have fallen off. It's not the most aggressive approach, but it has it's merit. This is just one example I can think of off the top of my head.

On Carl Edwads winning the championship this year: "The question is from a competition standpoint, have other people narrowed the gap, have they become complacent? Carl is going to drive hard and drive very effectively, but this sport is a moving target. You know, it's hard to go into a year and pick a team, but if you had to pick a team, the 99 team would certainly be one of those that you would pick."

Another insightful conversation with Jeff Burton folks.

source: nascar media; photo: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images