BUSCH: Darlington fall race story

Burton Wins Second 1997 Busch Series Race at Darlington

DARLINGTON, S.C. -- NASCAR Winston Cup regular Jeff Burton captured the Dura-Lube 200 presented by Trak Auto NASCAR Busch Series race Saturday at Darlington Raceway holding off Mike McLaughlin and Steve Park in the final laps. Burton is the first driver to win a race since the start/finish line was moved from the frontstretch to the backstretch at the historic facility. Burton won his second NASCAR Busch Series race of the season and the sixth his career. Polesitter and Burton's NASCAR Winston Cup teammate Mark Martin, who was attempting to break a tie with racing legend Jack Ingram as the all-time NASCAR Busch Series winningest driver, finished sixth. "This was definitely the best car that I've ever had at Darlington," said Burton. "I knew we had a good car when we left the No. 60 car (Martin), he is always tough. Other than when (Steve) Park was a lap down, we weren't really around anybody all day. But Steve did a great job getting his lap back and it paid off, he came back to finish fifth." "It may have looked easy, but nothing is ever easy at Darlington. All I can say is that I won the first race since they switched the track around. This race track has been one of my dreams to win on. I don't care what anybody says, Darlington is one of the big ones for me. To conquer this race track means everything to me." The race saw five cautions that eliminated drivers from competition such as Buckshot Jones, Dennis Setzer and Dale Shaw. NASCAR Busch Series points leader Randy LaJoie struggled all day and eventually came home 18th in the standings one lap down. Todd Bodine finished eighth and trimmed LaJoie's points lead to 97. Burton led 117 of 147 laps including the final 64 en route to a dominating victory. Burton averaged 118.080 mph in victory and took home the first place prize money of $36,000. Racing action continues today (Sunday) when the stars of the NASCAR Winston Cup Series take the green flag at 1 p.m. for Mountain Dew Southern 500. Jeff Gordon will attempt to secure a $1,000,000 bonus for capturing the fourth leg of "The Winston Million." The Winston Million is a million dollar payoff to any driver that can win three of NASCAR Winston Cup racing's big four, including the Daytona 500, the Winston 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway and the Mountain Dew Southern 500.