Jeff Burton Runs Simulated Race At Martinsville Speedway
4 September 1997
MARTINSVILLE, VA - Jeff Burton finished first and last at Martinsville Speedway on Wednesday. He was the only one in the race. Burton, Ted Musgrave and Gary Bradberry tested at Martinsville Speedway in preparation for the Hanes 500 on Sunday, Sept. 28. Burton went one step further than most teams as he ran a simulated 300-lap race. The Exide Ford team took statistics from the previous three NASCAR Winston Cup races at Martinsville and came up with the average number of cautions, caution laps and on which lap the caution flag flew. "It's part brake test, we are going to make some pit stops, rear end gear tests, some transmission gear tests," Burton said. "There's a lot of things you can't test unless you run a long time and are able to take everything apart and look at it. There's a whole lot of different stuff we wanted to try and see what happens when it gets hot before we come here and race them." Burton turned lap after lap smoothly and the team turned quick pit stops including high five's as he spun out of pit road. The only difference between his run and a race was no other cars were competing and only about 50 fans watched. But he does expect to find out about his equipment once the team gets back to their shop. "We won't know until we get home and pull up all of the data on the computers and we tear some pieces apart and look at them. Nothing broke in 300 laps and that's encouraging but you never know what is going to happen in 500," Burton said. "If there a problem, you'll find some heat in some pieces and you see some stuff and as long as we don't see that we will be OK." Burton and Musgrave, driver of Family Channel/Primestar Ford, each turned laps of 20.40 seconds during testing. Musgrave holds the track Winston Cup qualifying record at 94.129 miles per hour, 20.117 seconds. Burton and Musgrave are the first two drivers to test at Martinsville for the Hanes 500. Musgrave also was more concerned with long runs during testing. "Our overall runs here haven't been up to my expectations," Musgrave said. "So that's what we are working on now, the long run stuff, 50-lap and 100-lap runs. That's where the points are at and that's where the money's at, being there at the end." Gary Bradberry, driver of the Hanes Ford, worked on his Martinsville setup and for Richmond International Raceway this weekend. "Overall we are in pretty good shape. We unloaded at about a 21 flat (seconds) and if anything that's quicker than we expected to unload. Hopefully by the end of the day we will be down to about 20.40 seconds." The speedway still has good seats, for $35 to $40, available for the Hanes 500 on Sunday, Sept. 28 beginning at 12:30 p.m. The Hanes 250/500 weekend includes the NASCAR Winston Cup Series and the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Busch pole qualifying for the Hanes 250/500 weekend will begin at 3 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 26 with the Winston Cup Series followed immediately by time trials for the Craftsman Truck Series. Tickets for qualifying day are just $10 and children under age 12 are admitted free with a paying adult. The Hanes 250 Truck Series race begins at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 27 and tickets are $25 each for adults and tickets for children ages six to 12 are $5. Children under six years of age are admitted free with a paying adult. The 8,000 unreserved seats that go on sale race morning at 7:30 for the Hanes 500 are $30 each. Children ages six to 12 can sit in the unreserved section for $5. By Martinsville Speedway Public Relations
