FORT WORTH, Texas -- Jeff Burton was going to have a new crew chief next season. He's got him three races early.
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Scott Miller took over as the crew chief for Burton's No. 31 Chevrolet this weekend for the Dickies 500. Miller, who had been the crew chief for Dave Blaney in the No. 07 car, will remain with Burton for the rest of this season and into 2006.
Blaney is going into his final three races for owner Richard Childress before being replaced next season by Clint Bowyer, a Busch rookie who is second in points in that series. Blaney qualified 13th for Sunday's race, and Burton was 32nd.
Burton's previous crew chief, Kevin Hamlin, moved this weekend to the No. 07 Chevrolet and will be assisted the rest of this season by Gil Martin, who will move with Bowyer from Busch to Cup. Hamlin has been offered another position in Childress' organization.
"We're making these moves to get a head start on 2006," Childress said.
Martin remains the crew chief for Bowyer's No. 2 car in the Busch Series. Bowyer trails Martin Truex Jr. by 100 points going into the O'Reilly Challenge at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday.
Racing for the USA
Jeff Gordon is getting another chance to go to Paris for an all-star race.
The four-time NASCAR Nextel Cup champion was supposed to drive for Team USA last year at the Race of Champions Nations Cup, but had to withdraw because of a severe case of the flu.
"I was really bummed out about that," Gordon said Friday. "I said, 'I'll be there next year."'
And Gordon will.
He will team up with Travis Pastrana, a five-time X-Games gold medalist in motocross, in Paris for this year's Nation's Cup on Dec. 3, the day after the NASCAR awards ceremony in New York. Drivers from 10 countries and several types of racing will compete on a challenging one-kilometer, figure-eight parallel course designed and built especially for the Race of Champions.
"I was pumped when they came to me," Gordon said. "I'm really happy to have Travis Pastrana, I'm a huge fan of his, and the guy is fearless. He has been doing a lot of rally races as well."
Gordon was part of the winning Team USA in 2002, along with Jimmie Johnson and Colin Edwards. That race was in the Canary Islands.
