Jeff Burton
Jeff Burton was born in South Boston, VA, on the 29th of June, 1967. His more than 30-year career started off when he first got behind the wheel of a go-kart at the age of seven and it eventually led him to winning two Virginia karting state championships before he took to stock car racing instead in 1984. He raced on his home track in South Boston Speedway, winning six Late Model races in 1986 and seven the following year.
Jeff Burton’s NASCAR career began in 1988 when he competed in five Busch Series races, twice finishing 11th. He raced the Busch Series for his father, John, finally winning in September 1990 at Martinsville, where he drove for Sam Ard, the Busch series legend. From 1988 to 1993 Burton raced full time in the Busch Series with a personal best in 1992. Overall he had a total of 20 career Busch wins.
In July of 1993 Burton made his Cup debut in New Hampshire but failed to complete the race when he had a crash after 86 laps. He again raced full time in 1994, which ended with him winning Cup rookie of the year honors. Throughout these years of racing Jeff Burton was unable to feature as well as he would have liked, but 1996 changed all of that when he began driving for Jack Roush and his career took off with six Top-5’s and twelve Top-10’s and finishing overall 13th in points.
Between 1996 and 2001, Burton was able to keep his track record up and doing well, finishing top five in points. It was during those years that he made 15 of his 17 wins, which included his first win in April 1997 in Texas. Burton was tenth in points when he finished 2001, which was the last year he ever won a race. Jeff Burton left Roush Racing in 2005 and moved to Richard Childress Racing where he had three Top-5’s and six Top-10’s driving the No. 31 Chevrolet. Overall, Jeff finished the year 18th in points for the second time round.
Continuing to build his reputation as a talented driver, and as a reflection of his confidence in RCR, Burton won the pole for four races in 2006, adding to his previous two pole wins. His best finish of the season was a second place in the Chicagoland Speedway race, and he set the pace for more than half the race at the Sharpie 500 at Bristol. Breaking his four year winning drought, Burton won at both the Dover International Speedway and Atlanta Motor Speedway. He qualified for the Chase for the Nextel Cup, and set about winning the Dover 400, putting him in the points lead. However, the taste of victory was short-lived as a series of poor finishes and misfortune precluded Burton from the championship.
On 15 April 2007, Burton won the Samsung 500 at the Texas Motor Speedway, making him the first driver to score multiple wins at this particular track. He qualified for the Chase for the Nextel Cup, finishing in a tied 7th place in the standings for 2007. In 2008 Burton qualified 36th for his first Daytona 500, and worked his way up in the field, finishing 13th. He won the 2008 Food City 500 at the Bristol Motor Speedway, as well as the Bank of America 500 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, taking the lead from Greg Biffle. Still racing with RCR, in 2009 Burton finished 17th in series points, being his most disappointing points finish since 2005 where he came in at 18th. In October 2009 he made his 800th NASCAR Nationwide Series start at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Moving into 2010, Jeff Burton will be undertaking his 17th full season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. His achievements to date (March 2010) include 547 starts, 21 wins, six poles, 122 top-five finishes, and 222 top-ten finishes.