SBRS: Burton wins at Charlotte

Skip Barber trained Jeff Burton won the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway, leading a bevy of Barber trained talent that finished in the top-10. Burton was the choice of many to win the Winston Cup championship this season, based on the momentum of four victories and third place in points last season. But due to a plague of misfortunes, he and his crew had managed only two top-10 finishes and were 25th in points after 11 races.

The 12th time was the charm with Burton squeezing 71 laps out of his final tank of fuel. He pitted under green on lap 329, took the lead when the other front-runners pitted under caution on Lap 338, and won by more than 3 sec.

"You find out how good you are when things aren't going well." said the Skip Barber trained driver. "We can't go home and rest. This just means we got it done. We have a lot to learn from now until the time we go to Dover. We still have some tough times ahead of us."

2000 Winston Cup champion Bobby Labonte (5th), Jimmy Spencer (7th), Ward Burton (9th) and Jeremy Mayfield (10th) rounded out the Skip Barber trained top-10. A day earlier on the same track, Todd Bodine (4th), Jeff Burton (7th) and Jimmy Spencer (8th) placed in the top-10 in Busch Grand National action at the Carquest Auto Parts 300.

Skip Barber trained Helio Castroneves won the Indy 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday to record the first oval win of his career (SKIPBARBER NEWS, May 27, 2001). Michael Andretti, the winningest driver in CART history, battled gamely but came up short in the end and had to settle for a third place result at the Memorial Day Classic.

Lime Rock Park, in Northwestern, Connecticut, was the scene of plenty of action this weekend, under all sorts of weather conditions. In Grand-Am, Skip Barber trained Butch Leitzinger won the SRP class in Twin Sprint Race Two. Leitzinger was behind the wheel of the Dyson Riley & Scott/Ford. Former Barber Dodge Pro Series racer Andy Lally was best in the SRP II class, driving the Archangel Motorsport Services Lola/Nissan.

Also at Lime Rock, Skip Barber trained Mike Fitzgerald recorded a fourth place result in the Speedvision World Challenge Touring; Race Two. He was followed home by fellow Barberite Hugh Plumb, in fifth. Mike Fitzgerald also earned a podium spot with his third place finish in the Speedvision World Challenge GT race.

- Andrew Torres