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Sprint Cup
CUP: Burton – Show Me Performance, Not Words
Jeff Burton is in 8th place in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standings...
Jeff Burton finished 12th in points, last among Chase drivers, in 2010. (Photo: Getty Images)
Can a driver talk his way into the Sprint Cup championship?
Legend would have it that Darrell Waltrip did just that back in the 1980s when he was clicking off wins right and left in Junior Johnson’s cars. Waltrip was a master at psychological ploys, and his banter often got into other drivers’ heads. Sometimes it was just annoying, but other times he seemed to benefit.
Nothing of that sort has seemed to work as teams have tried to figure out how to take the championship from Jimmie Johnson. And, in Chase competitor Jeff Burton's words, that’s because results speak louder than language.
“I don’t think that teams and drivers are intimidated by words, I think that results are what gets people’s attention,” Burton said. “Somebody can talk all they want to talk. There is a fine line between arrogance and confidence, and sometimes the more you talk the bigger hole you dig yourself. I think results are what people pay attention to, not necessarily words.”
The way to catch Johnson – or anyone else who’s in front of you, Burton said, is to acknowledge your deficit and push forward. He made the comment in reference to next week’s tour visit to Martinsville Speedway, where Johnson and Denny Hamlin, who’s second in points, have won the past eight races.
“If you aren’t willing to look at where you are in reference to your competition, then you can’t improve,” Burton said. “If you aren’t willing to say, well, the 48 has won the last four championships, and those two teams have won the last eight races at Martinsville, if you’re not willing to look at that and accept that they are doing a better job than you, then you’re destined to fail.
“You can take several approaches. You can say, ‘We can’t win because they’re really, really good.’ Or you can say, ‘If everything falls our way, maybe we can win.’ Or you can go to work. I think the majority of the garage goes to work.”
Burton said it’s not likely, despite Johnson’s long run of success, that the rest of the garage views him as intimidating.
“I really believe there is a big misconception with the media that when you see the 48 there is some sort of intimidation factor,” he said. “There is a lot of respect for them, as it should be. I don’t think it’s an intimidation factor, I think it’s that they’re really good at what they do. You have got to be on your ‘A’ game to beat them. That’s how you gauge yourself.”
Racing Johnson and racing the late Dale Earnhardt Sr. are two different matters, Burton said.
“Respecting someone and paying attention to what they’re doing with admiration is not being intimidated; it’s being smart,” he said. “Now Earnhardt was a different deal because he would wreck your ass. When you saw him coming, it was not that it was necessarily intimidation, but you knew well I got something different that I got to deal with.
“Jimmie is not that kind of driver. Jimmie is very, very, very fast, and he is very, very, very smart, and he doesn’t take anything from anybody, but he’s not the kind of guy that you have got to deal with from that standpoint. You have got to deal with him because he is really, really fast and he is really, really good at what he does.”
Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 28 years. He has written several books on NASCAR, including "NASCAR: The Definitive History of America's Sport" and "Then Tony Said To Junior: The Best NASCAR Stories Ever Told". He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.
Legend would have it that Darrell Waltrip did just that back in the 1980s when he was clicking off wins right and left in Junior Johnson’s cars. Waltrip was a master at psychological ploys, and his banter often got into other drivers’ heads. Sometimes it was just annoying, but other times he seemed to benefit.
Nothing of that sort has seemed to work as teams have tried to figure out how to take the championship from Jimmie Johnson. And, in Chase competitor Jeff Burton's words, that’s because results speak louder than language.
“I don’t think that teams and drivers are intimidated by words, I think that results are what gets people’s attention,” Burton said. “Somebody can talk all they want to talk. There is a fine line between arrogance and confidence, and sometimes the more you talk the bigger hole you dig yourself. I think results are what people pay attention to, not necessarily words.”
The way to catch Johnson – or anyone else who’s in front of you, Burton said, is to acknowledge your deficit and push forward. He made the comment in reference to next week’s tour visit to Martinsville Speedway, where Johnson and Denny Hamlin, who’s second in points, have won the past eight races.
“If you aren’t willing to look at where you are in reference to your competition, then you can’t improve,” Burton said. “If you aren’t willing to say, well, the 48 has won the last four championships, and those two teams have won the last eight races at Martinsville, if you’re not willing to look at that and accept that they are doing a better job than you, then you’re destined to fail.
“You can take several approaches. You can say, ‘We can’t win because they’re really, really good.’ Or you can say, ‘If everything falls our way, maybe we can win.’ Or you can go to work. I think the majority of the garage goes to work.”
Burton said it’s not likely, despite Johnson’s long run of success, that the rest of the garage views him as intimidating.
“I really believe there is a big misconception with the media that when you see the 48 there is some sort of intimidation factor,” he said. “There is a lot of respect for them, as it should be. I don’t think it’s an intimidation factor, I think it’s that they’re really good at what they do. You have got to be on your ‘A’ game to beat them. That’s how you gauge yourself.”
Racing Johnson and racing the late Dale Earnhardt Sr. are two different matters, Burton said.
“Respecting someone and paying attention to what they’re doing with admiration is not being intimidated; it’s being smart,” he said. “Now Earnhardt was a different deal because he would wreck your ass. When you saw him coming, it was not that it was necessarily intimidation, but you knew well I got something different that I got to deal with.
“Jimmie is not that kind of driver. Jimmie is very, very, very fast, and he is very, very, very smart, and he doesn’t take anything from anybody, but he’s not the kind of guy that you have got to deal with from that standpoint. You have got to deal with him because he is really, really fast and he is really, really good at what he does.”
Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 28 years. He has written several books on NASCAR, including "NASCAR: The Definitive History of America's Sport" and "Then Tony Said To Junior: The Best NASCAR Stories Ever Told". He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.
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