Jeff Burton looks for Dover repeat

¦Dover was a diamond for Jeff Burton last year when he won the second race in the 2006 Chase for the NASCAR Nextel Cup to move atop the standings.

This year, the Dodge Dealers 400 defending champion needs a boost from Dover (Del.) International Speedway, similar to the lift teammate Clint Bowyer received last week when he dominated at New Hampshire to win his first Cup race.

Jeff Burton's victory at the Monster Mile last September began a four-week run as the points leader. But at Martinsville, the sixth stop of the 10-race Chase, his engine expired and he finished 42nd. The team never recovered. Jeff Burton and his Richard Childress Racing team managed one top 10 finish the rest of the way -- at Phoenix -- but by that time, they were well out of the running.

"Momentum doesn't put trophies in the cases," he said. "Success puts trophies in the cases."

Unfortunately for Jeff Burton, winning last year's race does not give him an advantage because this year's race is a Car of Tomorrow race.

"The reality is that it's a whole other world, a whole new set of rules," he said. "And we need to go earn it."

This is the second time around at Dover in NASCAR's Car of Tomorrow, the car that will run exclusively in 2008. In addition to the chassis handling challenges of the new cars, Jeff Burton says the track changes from one weekend to the next.

"The way the car handles seems to be different every time you go there ... the racetrack consistently does the same thing during the race, but one race to the next, it always seems to be different," Jeff Burton said. "And it's all about how the car feels and how it drives."

Hendrick Motorsports has set the standard in the new car. Hendrick teams won the first five Car of Tomorrow races. Although they weren't the strongest cars every time, they found ways to win. Jeff Burton says that success, along with putting three teams in the Chase for the second straight season, is what other teams are aiming to match.

"Certainly three years ago, we weren't in the position to put three teams in the Chase. We've advanced our company, and certainly Hendrick has had a lot to do with that," Jeff Burton said. "They haven't advanced our company, they haven't helped us with that, but they have set a standard that all of the teams in NASCAR have been trying for years to match the effort and success that Hendrick has put up."

RCR and Hendrick lead the way with three drivers in the Chase. Jeff Burton and Bowyer are joined by Kevin Harvick. This is Bowyer's first Chase.

Hendrick's Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson enter Sunday's race tied atop the standings. The third Hendrick driver in the Chase, Kyle Busch, is fourth. Despite the competitive nature of racing and the stakes of the Chase, the Hendrick teams still keep an open notebook.

"We've been through this before, we've competed against each other in championships," Johnson said. "And through it all, year after year, week after week, we recognize how if we work together it helps both of us and that's still the bottom line."

Shooting for his first Chase title and fifth Cup championship overall, Jeff Gordon wants to better June's outing in which his ninth-place finish was the best for Hendrick.

"We've performed well in the COT races, but that was probably our worst showing in the Impala," Jeff Gordon said.

Johnson finished 15th in June and Kyle Busch 17th. Tony Stewart, who is third in the standings 10 points back, had a run-in with Kurt Busch, finished 40th.

Fast facts

What: Dodge Dealers 400.
Where: Dover (Del.) International Speedway.
When: 1:30 p.m. ET Sunday.
TV: ABC, 1 p.m. ET.
Radio: MRN/Sirius Satellite.
Track layout: 1-mile oval.
Race distance: 400 laps/400 miles.
2006 winner: Jeff Burton.
2006 polesitter: Jeff Gordon.
Points leaders: 1. Jimmie Johnson, 5,210; 2. Jeff Gordon, 5,210; 3. Tony Stewart, 5,200; 4. Clint Bowyer, 5,195; 5. Kyle Busch, 5,175; 6. Martin Truex Jr., 5,170; 7. Matt Kenseth, 5,156; 8. Carl Edwards, 5,147; 9. Denny Hamlin, 5,128; 10. Kevin Harvick, 5,122; 11. Jeff Burton, 5,119; 12. Kurt Busch, 5,108.

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