Burton has made three trips to Victory Lane at RIR

Jeff Burton will race Chassis No. 382 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable in this weekend's Federated Auto Parts 400. This No. 31 Chevrolet was utilized in February at Phoenix International Raceway where engine issues thwarted Burton's top-five run and relegated him to a 33rd-place finish.

This car also raced at Richmond International Raceway in May where an on-track incident knocked Burton and the No. 31 team out of contention, forcing them to settle for a 31st-place finish. Burton most recently piloted this machine to a 21st-place finish at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in July.

Burton grew up two hours away from the Richmond, Va.-based facility in South Boston, Va. The Federated Auto Parts 400 marks Burton's 37th start at the 0.75-mile facility and 645th-career Sprint Cup Series entry. He has amassed one win, nine top-five and 15 top-10 finishes along with one pole award at the historic track.

Jeff Burton, Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet

Photo by: Action Sports Photography

Burton has garnered impressive NASCAR Loop Data statistics at Richmond International Raceway since the inception of NASCAR Loop Data Statistics in 2006. Of all drivers entering the 400-mile event, he has the eighth-most Green Flag Passes (734), the 13th-most Quality Passes (342), the 11th-best Average Running Position (15.61) and has spent 3,570 Laps in the Top 15, ranking him 10th amongst his competitors.

No Stranger to Victory Lane ... Burton has made three trips to Victory Lane at Richmond International Raceway, winning in the Sprint Cup Series in September 1998 and in the NASCAR Nationwide Series in June 1998 and September 2000.

Burton is scheduled to participate in a question-and-answer session at the Team Chevy stage in the RIR display area on Saturday, September 8 at 3:20 p.m. Eastern Time.

Atlanta Motor Speedway ... Burton and the No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet team battled to a 12th-place finish in the AdvoCare 500 under the lights at Atlanta Motor Speedway after starting from the 26th position

Burton sits 20th in the Sprint Cup Series driver championship point standings. After 25 points-paying events of the 36-race Sprint Cup Series season, Burton has two top-five and four top-10 finishes. The veteran RCR driver has spent 2,197 laps running in the top 15 and has made 2,359 green-flag passes.

Jeff Burton quote:

Some drivers call Richmond International Raceway the "perfect track." Do you agree? "I think it is an awesome track. I don't know how you can build a better track. You can run any kind of car series on that track. It is the perfect size. Some of the tracks we visit are too big. This track is the perfect mix of size and banking. It is a very difficult race track to beat."

Talk about your last few trips to Richmond International Raceway... "Our finishes at Richmond (International Raceway) the last few races haven't represented how strong our cars were there. There have been a few races were we have had fast race cars and silly things happen. The track is different every time we go there. We've seen some teams get hot at Richmond and consistently run good, but eventually they find themselves behind again. For whatever reason, the track is always changing."

Why has Richmond International Raceway become a one-groove race track recently? "The thing about Richmond (International Raceway) is that is has narrowed. We used to go there and have multi-groove racing, but not in the last few years. It was better multi-grooved in my opinion.

You need that second groove. We just haven't had it for whatever reason. I've asked NASCAR and track officials to go back to the Sawyer family to ask what they used to seal the track because they had a way of creating that second groove. The quality of racing was better with a second groove."

Source: Richard Childress Racing