Burton dodges the bullets for third

Burton was one of several cars, including the winner Ricky Craven, that decided to change two tyres rather than four on the final pit stop.

"Our car actually handled better by taking two right-side tyres instead of four," said Burton. "That got us some track position quite a few times. We're proud of the progress we've made since the spring race here."

Burton, older brother of fifth-placed Jeff, said he was pleased not only with his own race, but the fact Craven scored his maiden win.

"If they weren't going to get together and create a big hole for me, I was hoping that Ricky was going to win it," he said. "Ricky has been through a lot. He got injured when he was driving for Hendrick, and he has battled back. It's always nice to see a first-time winner. I was playing. That was just as close as I could get to them.

"It was a great day for us. I'm really happy with the effort by the team, particularly Terry Elledge back at the motor shop. The last time here, the engine combination we had here just wouldn't work no matter what we did to the car. It just shows a lot of hard work on their part to come back here and have a car that almost qualified in the top 10 and finished in the top five. Those guys have worked extremely hard all summer to figure out the Dodge powerplant."

It was the second race in a row that Burton has finished third: "Nobody has knocked the hell out of me these past two weeks. That's the reason for the turnaround."