Burton And Childress Express High Expectations For 2012

South Milwaukee, Wis., Jan. 18-NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Jeff Burton and team owner Richard Childress made a stop at the headquarters of primary sponsor Caterpillar in South Milwaukee, Wisconsin Wednesday to meet employees and express their optimism regarding the upcoming NASCAR Sprint Cup season which kicks off with the prestigious Daytona 500 on Sunday February 26th.

“I’m as excited about this upcoming year as I have been in a long time, “Burton stated, “We didn’t live up to our expectations last year and we certainly didn’t live up to Caterpillar’s expectations or our fans expectations and I feel this year we’re going to redeem ourselves.”

” I feel like we’ve got the right highly motivated group of people together and we’ve got something to prove, “Burton continued, “I know we have the talent to do it and I think having something to prove and feeling like your back is against the corner sometimes is a good thing and I’m really excited about what we’ve got going on.”

The addition of former Roush-Fenway Racing Crew Chief Drew Blickensderfer, who Burton referred to as “the first guy I wanted” along with a returning core group of members, has bolstered Burton’s confidence in the new season.

“There’s no question in my mind we’re going to be better and we’re going to contend and by contend, I mean we’re here to win championships,” Burton said, “That’s it that’s the goal for me. It’s not about winning one particular race as my deal is I’ve done this for a long time and I haven’t won a championship, that’s what’s left for me and that’s what I want to go do.”

Childress agreed with Burton’s assessment, adding “Everybody thinks they are going to come out and do better but with the changes we made and the people we put in place and with the system we have in place for this year, we’ll be able to contend for the championship.”

Having recently wrapped up a pre-season test session at the Daytona International Speedway in preparation for the Daytona 500, Burton said the team learned a lot but still had a lot of questions to be answered.

“NASCAR wants to limit the two-car tandem thing but it’s going to be difficult to do and not overheat while running in the pack, so they’ve got a tough nut to crack. We don’t know what the rules are yet, but I don’t think you’re going to eliminate the two-car tandem, so the best for them is to slow it down a little bit so it doesn’t happen for as long. But like Richard (Childress) has said if David Pearson and Richard Petty could have figured out they could do it and their cars would have lined up, they would have been doing it way back then.”

“One thing I left Daytona knowing is that’s going to be a heck of a race,” Burton continued, “There are a lot of teams feeling good about what they have got going on and there are a lot of teams that are really fast so no matter what the rules are, there’s no question it’s going to be a highly competitive race as a lot of cars are running the same speed.”

“I also think we’ll see more winners this year than we saw last year, “Burton said, expanding on the increased competition angle, “I also think somebody other than everybody’s favorite is going to win the championship. With the parity we have today, the door is more open for people who could win a championship but maybe are not everybody’s favorite to win the title. You just don’t know what’s going to happen and I think picking favorites is more difficult today than it has ever been.”

In addition to the visit by Jeff Burton and Richard Childress, Caterpillar and Road America also announced a new multi-year partnership that includes the Caterpillar name spanning the pedestrian bridge located after turn 14 across the hillside climb to the front straight.

Dan Margetta

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