Concord, N.C.
For the fifth time this season, Jeff Burton has taken his Ford to victory Lane in the Busch Grand National Series. Burton was unchallenged as he lapped all but two of his competitors, in taking the checkered flag with a nineteen second margin.
An accomplishment that amazed everyone, including the race winner. "I just can't tell you how we did it, when things start clicking, it's amazing how it all works, We’re making all the
right decisions. We have great rhythm. The guys made changes on the car in the first pit stop, and then it just took off. The whole team is working together with the Winston Cup program. Notes Burton, referring to his full time ride in the Cup series, assisting his part time BGN effort. An effort that has phenomenal results.
Burton has won three of the last five Busch races, and in twelve starts has posted nine top ten finishes. Finishing behind Burton was fellow Winston Cup competitor Michael Waltrip. Waltrip, who started on the pole readily, accepted Burrton’s dominant performance..."I know y'all are thinking that was kind of ugly. Well, you're right. It was." said Waltrip who continued, I thought we
were better than Jeff early and I got a bad set of tires and that threw me off," Waltrip said. "We adjusted for the bad set of tires then the car pushed all day. We just didn't have the right shock package for this race." Finishing behind Waltrip, were Joe Nemechek and Jeff Green.
The top four finishers are nicknamed "Busch Whackers", referring to full time Cup drivers who compete in the development series, arguably impacting the championship race. Of the twenty-nine BGN races run this season, Winston Cup regulars have won thirteen.
David Green a former series champion finished fifth. Green took over the ride for Ricky Hendrick, who abruptly announced his retirement form racing prior to the race weekend. Hendrick, son of team owner Rick Hendrick suffered a shoulder separation this year at Las Vegas believed that the
injury impacted his ability to effectively pilot the car.
Green credited his top five finish to the team. "This is Team GMAC's best finish of the year and my personal best in a long time and I really can't say enough about this team, they really dig down deep. These guys are so committed I am really proud to be a part of it. I watched Ricky make a really tough decision to stop driving and I've had every kind of emotion on this. I never felt excited to drive in his seat until the green flag came down then the cloud lifted".
Greg Biffle continued to move toward the series championship finishing sixth, twelve positions ahead of Jason Keller, to extend his lead in the points race to one hundred sixty eight points with five races remaining in the season.
Next weekend the series heads to Memphis Motorsports Park for the Sams Town 250.