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Backyard racing RIR always special to native Virginians
Posted: Friday May 05, 2000 01:55 PM
For you college football fans, you know one of the biggest games of any season is the annual Homecoming Game. On this day, emotions are stirred dramatically. Well, even in NASCAR Winston Cup racing, drivers can experience their own Homecoming Game. Or, in my case, Homecoming Games. Four times a season, I get to run on two hometown race tracks (Martinsville twice and Richmond twice) and I take pride in that. This weekend, we head for the first of two Richmond races this year. Just like I did at Martinsville earlier this season, I look forward to coming home. As many of you may know, I grew up two hours away from Richmond, in South Boston, Va. Many of the fans who will fill the stands at Richmond International Raceway watched me develop into the driver I am today. Because of that, I guess there will be a little more focus on me Saturday night. Rest assured, I always want to win, but, certainly, there's nothing I'd like better than to win in my own backyard. I would imagine there might be a little internal pressure as a result. The No. 99 Exide Batteries Racing Team is coming off a fairly hard-earned fifth-place finish at California Speedway last weekend. We fought an ever-changing car and a battle for track position for virtually the entire 250-lap race. Considering what we dealt with, getting a top-five was pretty good. We even made some progress in the points, which we always welcome. Heading for Richmond, we're fourth in the Winston Cup points standings and now trail leader, Bobby Labonte, by 120 points. We're 47 points behind my brother, Ward, in third. The goal each race is to keep moving in the right direction. We did that at Fontana. We're in good shape to get the points lead. We just have to keep stressing patience. My track record (pardon the pun) has been decent at Richmond. You might recall, in last year's spring race, I was leading about halfway through the race when we had a rear end gear problem. As a result, I had a horrible finish and lost the points lead to eventual champion, Dale Jarrett, after sitting on top of the standings for six straight weeks. The way I look at it is what's done is done. Last year is not going to have a lot of impact on what goes on this year. It's a whole new deal. We're working real hard to climb into serious contention for a championship at the moment. It's that time again to wish the No. 99 Exide team good luck this Saturday. We're hoping we can make even more progress and go into the off weekend on an up note. Speaking of the forthcoming off weekend, it's also reason to wish all of you moms Happy Mother's Day. Enjoy your day. You deserve it. Will catch up with you folks just prior to The Winston. Jeff Jeff Burton is a 12-time winner on the Winston Cup Series. His diary appears weekly on CNNSI.com.
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