Burton Gets Archaeological Education, Then Talks Martinsville Speedway Racing

MARTINSVILLE, VA (August 27, 2008) – Jeff Burton enjoyed a relaxing, educational day in Martinsville Tuesday. It was a rare quiet visit for the veteran NASCAR Sprint Cup driver, who grew up about an hour from Martinsville in South Boston.

Normally he is wrestling a stock car around Martinsville Speedway’s testy half-mile oval, feeling the pressure not only to win races, but to perform well in front of hometown friends and fans.

Tuesday he was taking a tour of the Virginia Museum of Natural History, given by the Museum’s Earth Science Curator, Jim Beard, with a large contingent of media in tow.

“I think it’s important to not only showcase the local race track, but to showcase what else is going on locally,” said Burton, who was in town to bang the drum for the TUMS QuikPak 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Martinsville Speedway on October 19.

“And this (the Museum) is really exciting. This is something that people need to know about and that people would want to come to.”

It was an educational experience for Burton. He learned that musk ox and sloths walked the area where he grew up in South Boston 14,000 years ago, he touched a 14 million year old Baleen whale skull recently excavated by VMNH staff and got up close with a 500 million year old fossil discovered in the Martinsville and Henry County area. After the tour, Tim Gette, the Museum’s executive director, presented Burton with a memento of the visit, a Chesapecten jeffersonius, a fossilized form of an extinct scallop, which lived around 3.5 million years ago.

And then Burton talked racing, especially racing at Martinsville Speedway, the place where his interest in racing was first sparked.

“It’s really cool to come here to race. As a kid, I came here to watch cars race and became fascinated with racing because of that,” said Burton.

But because of his long relationship with the historic Virginia track and its proximity to his hometown, the short track can be a pressure cooker for Burton.

“There’s no question when I come to Martinsville, when I go to Richmond, it’s different,” said Burton, who ran Late Models at Martinsville, made his first Nationwide start here, picked up his first Nationwide win here and has a Sprint Cup win here. “There are a lot of people who come watch me race at Martinsville and watch Ward race, that not only saw us grow up as race car drivers, but saw us grow up as people.

“There are a lot of people who supported us when no one knew who we were who are still in the stands today. We take a lot of pride in that. It is different racing at your hometown track. There’s an extra level of intensity that comes with it. You always want to win in your backyard.”

Burton is fifth in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points with just two races remaining before the cutoff for the Chase for the Sprint Cup. He is all but guaranteed a spot in the Chase, and said Tuesday Martinsville Speedway and the TUMS QuikPak 500 are pivotal parts of the Chase.

“To be able to come race at Martinsville and be at a Chase race, that’s a really cool deal,” Burton said. “Because honestly, if you really think about the history of racing, this is what racing’s all about. It’s short-track racing, a lot of action and you’re going to be doing it with people racing for millions of dollars. And more importantly, they’re racing for that cup.

“It’s awesome that Martinsville’s part of the Chase. “It ought to be part of the Chase, because the racing’s so intense. It’s wild from start to finish. I hope to be a part of it, a big part of it.”

Tickets for the TUMS QuikPak 500, the sixth race in the Chase For The Sprint Cup, are on sale and may be purchased by calling 877.RACE.TIX or online at www.martinsvillespeedway.com.