The fact that Jeff Burton and Mark Mark combined for four top-5 finishes in two days last weekend is awful darn impressive, but not overly surprising. Such success has become the norm for the Roush Racing running mates.
Burton and Mark seem to post dominant performances every
time they partake in NASCAR Busch Series competition, and
last weekend was no different. They finished first and
third, respectively, in the AutoLite Platinum 250 NBS event
at Richmond International Raceway.Burton dominated the race, leading the most laps en route to winning his third event of the season. Mark wasn't far behind, finishing third. That marked his ninth top-5 finish in as many races. He's also won five times, tying Jeff Green for the series lead in that category despite the fact that Green has 17 more starts.
They don't fare so badly in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series ranks, either. They have combined for three victories, 22 top-5s and 31 top-10s in NASCAR 2000. Only the Bobby Labonte-Tony Stewart and Dale Jarrett-Ricky Rudd combos have notched comparable numbers.
Last weekend, Burton sat on the Bud Pole for the Chevrolet Monte Carlo 400 and appeared well on his way to a weekend sweep. He led an event-high 152 laps before eventual winner Jeff Gordon passed him with 15 laps to go. Still, by finishing fourth, Burton posted his 17th top-10 finish of the year. He has posted seven top-10s in 13 career races at RIR, including seven of the last 10.
"It was a good weekend for us," Burton said. "It was a little disappointing. Like I said, we got beat by some guys at the end of the race there that didn't race with us all night, but that's the way it goes."
Mark was one of the drivers to whom Burton was referring.
The No. 6 Ford rolled off 10th Saturday and never led a lap.
In fact, his third-place finishing position was the highest
he ran all night.Mark has come on of late. He has finished third or better in the three of five races since posting back-to-back 43rd-place finishes at Pocono at Indianapolis. He has posted 17 top-10 finishes in 30 races at Richmond, and Saturday marked his fourth top-5 finish in the last six races here. His other two finishes were 32nd and 35th.
"Just a few more laps and we were in good position," said Mark, who currently ranks eighth in the point standings. "We didn't have the car to win tonight, but the Valvoline team dug in there and we made it exciting there at the end. It was a great job."
That it was. What else would you expect?
