FANTASY NASCAR Racin

a retired NASCAR Cup Series driver. Jeff Burton is the younger brother of Ward Burton, who is also a former NASCAR Cup driver. Burton began driving a handful of races in the Xfinity Series in 1988 in car number 69 owned by his father John Burton. He competed in the full season for Xfinity Series Rookie of the Year in 1989 in the #12 Burton Autosports Pontiac. In 1990, he drove the #12 Armour Lower Salt Bacon Buick for Sam Ard, where he won his first career race. He moved to J&J Racing's No. 99 Armour / Food Lion-sponsored Chevrolet in 1991 for one year before moving on to FILMAR Racing owned by Filbert Martocci where he would drive an Oldsmobile sponsored by TIC Financial Systems in 1992, and a Ford sponsored by Baby Ruth in 1993. Burton would later make his first NASCAR Cup start in 1993 in car #0 owned by Martocci. He would qualify and start an impressive sixth; but crash out on lap 86 and finish 37th. 1994 was Burton's rookie year in the Cup Series,

driving the #8 Raybestos-sponsored Ford for Stavola Brothers Racing. After 5 races, he reached a season-high 14th-place finish in the overall standings, but by the end of the year he dropped to 24th after being disqualified at the Miller Genuine Draft 400 for illegal holes drilled on the roll cage, a safety violation. He had a season-high 4th-place finish on the way to earning 1994 NASCAR Rookie of the Year. He was one of a record-high 10 rookies eligible for the award that year, besting a class that included future

Cup stars Joe Nemechek, Jeremy Mayfield, John Andretti, and older brother Ward. The next year, in 1995, Burton had one Top 5, along with a 9th place finish. He also missed 3 races and finished 32nd in points. In 1996, Burton left the Stavola Brothers for Roush Racing. Driving the No. 99 Exide Batteries-sponsored Ford for his new team, he finished 13th overall in the season points standings despite failing to qualify for the Purolator 500 in March as a new team (provisional's in the first four races were based on 1995 points, and Burton's team did not have points from 1995). His career hit a peak from 1997 to 2000, as he never finished lower than fifth in the points standings. He achieved his first career win in 1997 in the Interstate Batteries 500 at Texas Motor Speedway (the

inaugural NASCAR race at the track), and would go on to win 14 more races during the four-year run. In 1999, Burton won a career-high six races, including the Jiffy Lube 300 for a third straight year, and clinched two of the series' four majors (Coca-Cola 600 and the 50th Annual Southern 500), which would lead to a fifth-place finish in points. His best points finish was in third in 2000, just 294 points behind champion Bobby Labonte. On September 17, 2000, Burton led every lap of the Dura Lube 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway, in unique circumstances (this race was the only Loudon race to use a restrictor plate, imposed for safety reasons after the deaths of Adam Petty and Kenny Irwin, Jr. earlier in the year at the track). From 1997 to 2000, Burton won an event at NHIS

every year. In 2001, Burton and the #99 welcomed a new sponsor CITGO PVSA. Burton won another two races, upping his career total to 17, and he finished tenth in points, climbing from a season low of 38th, his position after four races. In 2002 and 2003, he finished 12th in the points and combined for eight Top 5's and 25 Top 10's, but failed to win a race in either year. CITGO PVSA then announced that it was leaving Roush Racing at the end of the 2003 season. Burton ran the 2004 season without a primary sponsor, with races frequently being sponsored by his personal sponsor SKF. Rumors began to arise that Burton would be leaving Roush Racing. After originally denying the rumors, it finally happened in mid-2004 when, just before the Sirius at The Glen, Burton signed a three-year contract with Richard Childress Racing (RCR), leaving

Roush after eight and a half years with the team. Upon joining RCR, Burton was placed in the #30 AOL-sponsored Chevrolet. He was the third driver to pilot the car that season; Johnny Sauter was promoted from RCR's Xfinity Series program to take over the car but was released after 13 races and was replaced by Dave Blaney, who was released when Burton became available. Prior to the driver change, Burton had an average finish of 20.8 and was 23rd in points. In the 13 races after he changed teams, though, the same stats were improved to 16.6 and 18th. During the offseason, Burton and his team remained with RCR but were switched to the #31 Cingular Wireless-sponsored Chevy, replacing Robby Gordon. 2005 was Burton's first full year at RCR, and he had six Top 10's and three Top 5's for the year including a third-place finish in the Subway Fresh 500 at Phoenix in April and a second-place finish in

the Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. In 2006 Burton's best finish came in the race at Chicagoland where he recorded a second-place finish. He led the most laps at Indianapolis and Bristol's Sharpie 500, setting the pace for more than half the race. In the Xfinity Series, he won at Atlanta Motor Speedway and Dover International Speedway, breaking his four-year win less streak in any NASCAR series. After the race at Richmond International Raceway Jeff qualified for the Chase for the Cup. During the Chase, Burton won the Dover 400 at Dover International Speedway, breaking a 185-race winless streak dating back to October 28, 2001, allowing him to take the

points lead. However, a series of relatively poor finishes in subsequent races, including a flat tire at Talladega while running in the top five and an engine failure at Martinsville, eliminated Burton from contention for the championship. Burton won the Samsung 500 at Texas on April 15, 2007, driving with a sponsorship from Prilosec OTC, passing Matt Kenseth on the final lap, making him the first driver to have multiple wins at Texas Motor Speedway. He later went on to qualify for the Chase for the Cup, he tied for 7th in the 2007 standings. In 2008 Burton came very close to winning the 50th annual Daytona 500 driving the #1 AT&T Chevy. Burton won the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Following contact between Kevin Harvick and Tony Stewart, Burton passed Harvick and Stewart for second. On the ensuing restart Burton passed Denny Hamlin coming off of Turn 2 to win the Food City 500 and

finishing off a sweep of the podium for Richard Childress Racing. Burton also won the 2008 Bank of America 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Burton took the lead from Greg Biffle with just over 70 laps to go. During the final round of pit stops Burton took fuel only and held off a hard charging Jimmie Johnson for his first multiple win season since 2001. Burton had a new sponsor on the No. 31, after Caterpillar was signed through 2011. Burton was expected to make a run for the championship but a poor season lead Burton to miss the Chase, the first time since 2005. Burton's best finish that year was a pair of second-place finishes in the final two races at Phoenix and Homestead. In 2010, he rebounded but he had still not won a race, though he made the Chase and finished second in both

Dover races. He nearly won the fall Martinsville race but a flat tire with 15 laps remaining gave Denny Hamlin the win. A couple weeks later, he and Jeff Gordon got into a wreck long after the caution was out. Burton walked up the track to confront Gordon and the two got into a shoving match. Burton finished 12th in the final standings. In 2011, Burton was looking for a better year than in 2010. But a very bad season gave Burton a poor series of finishes. In 2012, Burton gained the sponsorship in Wheaties, BB&T and EnerSys. The 31 team also switched crew chiefs too, and Drew Blickensderfer became the crew chief. After a dismal 2012 Blickensderfer was released four races early before the season's end, and Luke Lambert became Burton's crew chief in 2013. At the AdvoCare 500 at Phoenix International Raceway, Burton would make

his 1,000th career NASCAR start, the sixth driver in NASCAR history to do so. On September 4, 2013, Richard Childress Racing announced that Burton would not be returning to RCR in 2014. On November 8, Burton stated that he would run a part-time schedule in 2014. He ran two races for Michael Waltrip Racing in the #66 Toyota Cares Toyota; and his final two race's he ran driving the #14 Mobile 1 Chevy for Stewart-Hass Racing. His final race would come at Bristol. He would qualify 25th and bring home the car in 15th place. In 2015, he became the full time color commentator for NBC along with former crew chief Steve LeTarte. For his career Burton ran in 695 Cup races and won 21 times. He had a best finish of fourth in the points (1997). He also ran in 306 Xfinity races and would visit victory lane on 27 occasions. He made four Truck Series starts and had a best finish of fourth at Nazareth PA in 1996. Some info from Wikipedia.

Fantasy NASCAR Racing

JEFFERY TYLER "JEFF" BURTON - 06/29/1967