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Former NASCAR driver Jeff Burton’s career peaked with the last years of seven-time Cup Series champion Dale Earnhardt's outstanding career, and Burton was a notable challenger.
Burton surpassed Earnhardt in points from 1997 to 1999 and when Earnhardt finished second to Bobby Labonte in 2000, he was just one spot behind.
Burton recently posted a video in which he recalled the moment when Dale Earnhardt gave him a lesson in being a Champion after a frustrating day at Talladega Superspeedway years back that became his moment of clarity.
In the video, Jeff Burton said that he paid the price when he unexpectedly didn’t get help from Earnhardt that day at Talladega Superspeedway. Recalling the incident in a Twitter video, Burton said:
“I walk up to him, and I’m like, ‘What the hell, man? All day long, I helped you. All day long, I pushed you. One chance you had to do it, you hung me out.’ He looked at me dead in the eyes and said, ‘Am I here racing for me, or am I here racing for you?’ (He) just walked away, and I stood there, and I thought about that. I’m like, ‘You know what? Unfortunately, he was right.’”
He continued:
“So, from that point on? ‘Sorry, teammates.’ I got selfish. Because at the end of the day you are there racing for you. You’re not there racing for anybody else.”
Dale Earnhardt didn’t help when Jeff Burton needed help at Talladega Superspeedway
In a Twitter video, Jeff Burton said that he spent a good couple of years with Dale Earnhardt in the garage because they were right next to each other in points for several consecutive years.
Burton said:
“I spent a couple of years pretty much next to him in the garage because we were right next to each other in points for several years in a row. I got to know him really well in those years and I had one moment that it’s funny now, wasn’t funny then. We were in Talladega, and I had helped him all damn day. Like, I had helped push him – he went somewhere I’d go with him.”
Jeff Burton and Dale Earnhardt together have scored 97 wins in the NASCAR Cup Series.
