Scott® Extra Soft Ford a Little “Short” in Sharpie Mini 300

Burton qualifies eighth; suffers early electrical problem

Bristol, TN (March 24, 2007) … The Sharpie Mini 300 NASCAR Busch Series race at the Bristol Motor Speedway had all the promise to be the best outing of the young 2007 season for Ward Burton and the #27 Scott® Extra Soft Racing Team. However, an early-race “short” in the electrical system and battery connection ended those hopes.

Burton, who was making his first NASCAR Busch Series start at Bristol in fourteen years, was the tenth driver to tackle the high banks for qualifying. The South Boston, Virginia competitor posted a fast lap of 15.402 seconds / 124.581 mph to earn the 8th starting position for the 300-lap race. It was Burton’s best qualifying effort of the season, and his first top-ten starting position in his five races.

With a crowd estimated at 110,000 in attendance, Burton knew that Crew Chief Stewart Cooper and the Scott® Extra Soft Team had prepared a strong Ford Fusion for this event. However, to be successful at Bristol, surviving the frequent cautions and working race traffic are two essential keys.

At the start, Burton settled into a comfortable lap time and was running in the tenth position when caution waved for a three-car accident on lap 34. With track cleanup extensive, NASCAR displayed the red flag to the field and stopped the cars between turns one and two on lap 36. After a nine minute stoppage of action, NASCAR gave the signal to fire the engines and resume racing.

“When I hit the ignition to restart my car, it just clicked,” Burton explained. “I switched ignition boxes and tried again. Nothing. I had no power at all.”

As the rest of the field followed the caution car around the track, Burton was pushed by a safety vehicle to his pit. The Brewco Motorsports crew quickly evaluated the problem and replaced the battery. When the repairs were complete, Burton rejoined the race on lap 55 in the 38th position, sixteen laps behind the leader.

“Apparently, we had an electrical short in the plug to the battery,” Crew Chief Stewart Cooper stated. “It made for a long day after that early problem. However, Ward did a great job for the remainder of the race, and turned laps consistently as fast as the leaders. Plus, with all the wild action on the track, Ward brought our car home without a scratch.”

For the remaining 240+ laps after returning to the race, Burton had one of the fastest cars on the high banks of Bristol. However, since he was multiple laps down, the veteran Burton did not pressure the issue and yielded to the lead lap cars racing for position. And, with attrition always an issue at Bristol, Burton was able to gain eleven positions to post a 27th-place finish in the Sharpie Mini 300.

“It’s a shame we had our early problem,” Burton said. “You never know how things are going to work out at Bristol, but we had a fast car throughout the race. I could run with anyone on the track, but there was no use racing the leaders and risking an accident. I didn’t want to wreck our car when we were so many laps down. But, trying to stay out of the way is sometimes tougher than racing for the lead, especially at Bristol where everything happens so fast. It was great to have Scott® Extra Soft on board for the past three races. We really appreciate their support.”

The NASCAR Busch Series has next weekend off before returning to action on Saturday, April 7th at Nashville Superspeedway. Qualifying will be held 11:05 AM ET on April 7th, with the 225-lap, 300-mile race set for a 3:30 PM ET start. ESPN2 will provide live television coverage with the Motor Racing Network (MRN) handling the radio broadcast of the first of two trips to Nashville for the Busch Series this season. Jason Keller will drive the #27 Cottonelle® Aloe & E / Dollar General Ford Fusion at Nashville. Ward Burton will return to pilot the car at Texas Motor Speedway on April 14th.

# # #