Three years ago, Jeff Burton seemed headed to the NASCAR scrap heap.
Now he's on top of the world.
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| The win leaves Jeff Burton eight points behind Jeff Gordon in the standings. (AP) |
That came with a call from car owner Richard Childress.
Childress needed someone to take over a struggling ride in his own stable and tabbed Burton to replace Robby Gordon as teammate to Kevin Harvick.
"Leaving Roush was a difficult decision but going to Richard Childress Racing was an easy decision," Burton said. "Richard has a huge amount of respect from everybody in the garage not only as a great team owner but to being a great person as well."
Burton saw the opportunity to not only right the ship immediately, but to build something for a successful future.
"At the end of the day I made the decision that I thought gave me the best chance to be in this sport at a high level for as long as possible and to compete at the highest level," Burton said.
The move didn't produce instant results, but gradually Burton and his new team started to click.
By last season, Burton and the No. 31 team evolved into a title contender, leading the "Chase for the Nextel Cup" championship run early before fading to finish seventh in the final point standings.
But this year Burton picked up right where he left off. And Sunday, he became the first Nextel Cup driver to make a repeat trip to Victory Lane at Texas Motor Speedway, winning the Samsung 500 as he did in its inaugural running in 1997.
"I'll be honest -- I feel like a guy who's come back. I don't know how to describe it. When we came here that year and were able to win that race we were a fairly young race team. We ran well and I found a way to get it done.
"I firmly believe that -- I don't believe that I forgot how to drive. Some people forgot that I can drive -- Richard Childress didn't."
